About a Lioness
by izobelle
Summary: In a wizarding world where magical power is ranked among magical humans and gangs run rampant with their own ideals, follow as a young girl's journey unfolds to fulfill her destiny foretold by the fates. (A/N: The summary may need to be revised as the story goes but we'll see.)
1. Chapter 1: Just Another Prophecy

**February 04, 2017 (Word count: 3,653)**

 **A/N. Just a sudden idea for a story that I found myself writing. Haven't made a complete concrete plot yet so will write as ideas come. This is AU so I've taken a lot of liberties (particularly with age, relationships, and affiliations), but I've tried to remain true to each character's personality. Feel free to give suggestions. Also, if there are any similarities to other stories, I apologize as my inspiration comes from all the combined fanfiction stories I have read across websites, genres, etc. but I in no way mean to copy another author's work.**

 **Disclaimer: I practically own none of these. My name is not J.K. Rowling hence I do not own the wonderful Harry Potter and his universe. I have sourced numerous names and details (characters, books, shop names, etc.) from the books, movies, Pottermore and even the Harry Potter Wikia. There are certain excerpts that I have lifted directly from the books (marked with an asterisk*). Numerous terms from other magical worlds have been borrowed and redefined to fit what I want.**

Onwards.

* * *

 **CHAPTER ONE: JUST ANOTHER PROPHECY**

 **December 1979, England**

 _"My Love,_

 _I'm sorry I had to leave quickly. Rest assured that I_ _ **… we**_ _are safe. I have her with me and we are on our way to the place where we once said beauty flies. Please do not worry as I took every precautionary measure we agreed upon. I will meet up with our blonde friend at the bird's nest once things have settled down. I am sure she will be safe there with me. In the meantime, please do not fret and stay out of trouble. Work with the others and know that we will be together again soon. We'll have our own Christmas family dinner. Just the three of us._

 _Until then."_

"Are you done yet?" Andromeda asks as she leans on the doorframe. The 25 year-old woman who was previously staring at the parchment and going through her letter looks up upon hearing the greeting and puts aside her quill. She her raises an eyebrow at the woman by the door, painting quite an intimidating picture. The 25 year-old woman is was quite short compared to the other woman, standing only at 5"3' versus the other woman's 5"8', but most people never did seem to feel her relative shortness in height as she always stood with grace and confidence that people cannot help but be either jealous of or be intimidated by.

"If you want to sneak up on me, better brush up on your skills Andy. But if you must know, yes I am. I had to make sure that it isn't too long and I wasn't sure that you were coming by so in case I had to deliver it by owl, I needed to make sure it wasn't too direct. You'll make sure she gets this, right Andy?" The woman asks as she turns to look at the younger woman standing in front of her. While the other woman exudes an aura of confidence and strength, Andromeda, on the other hand, was more known for her compassionate side and slightly clumsiness. Despite this and other differences, the

"Of course, you know I will. Is there anything else you need me to bring? A message that needs to be relayed? It may be some time before I return so you'll have to use the owl post again." Andromeda answers while trying to mentally compute when she is actually likely to return.

"It doesn't matter. She will be coming to us soon enough," the woman responds as she hands Andromeda the letter she just finished writing.

"Alright," Andromeda responds as she takes the letter, "I'll be heading off then. Where do I find you after this?"

"Don't worry. **I** will find you if you need me. Same as whenever I might need you to deliver a message personally, I'll reach out to you," is the quick response. Andromeda chuckles accepting that this will always be the case. The older woman will always be one step ahead.

"As is to be expected of you. Nothing ever changes. You stay safe okay?" Andromeda answers in a slightly worried tone. With a quick a hug to the other woman, she walks out the door. A few seconds later, with a soft pop, she disapparates.

The other woman sighs and plops down on the couch. Thinking about how the wizarding world has been for the past years has been taxing. Even with the Aurors working double time and receiving more funding than they ever have. There are less and less wizards and witches who are passing the qualifications to become an Auror, much less other positions of more prestige.

This is exactly what led to the need for her to do this. And do this she shall she thinks resolutely. With that thought in mind, the woman reaches for her bag and hugs a small bundle close to her chest as she touches a sea shell on the table. Then, without so much as a sound, she disappears.

* * *

 **September 1980, England**

 _In Godric's Hollow_

"Lily,do you have everything?" a man with black messy hair questions his wife as he goes around trying to make sure everything they need is inside their large duffel bag that has been dubbed their 'baby bag'.

"Yes, James. I have Harry's change of clothes and he is settled down for the trip. We can go. We **should** go otherwise we're going to be late." his wife, Lily, responds calmly. Lily has always tried to remain level-headed in the face of any crisis since she knows her husband has a tendency to panic. It wasn't that there was no reason to panic, Merlin knows the number of Wizarding gangs has gone up in numbers after they graduated from Hogwarts three years ago. It was just that James always tries to over prepare for a worst case scenario. One would say he is too influenced by his boss - Alastor Moody.

"That's great! Shall we take the floo then?" says James with a sigh of relief. He grabs the flower pot full of floo powder and eyes it closely before offering it to his wife with a cheeky smile, "ladies first!"

Rolling her eyes at her charming husband, Lily grabs a handful of floo powder and states clearly, " _ **12 Grimmauld Place!**_ "

Less than a minute later, James follows his wife and states the same.

* * *

 _In Ottery St. Catchpole_

In another location in England, two oddly shaped houses can be seen across each other, separated by a vast field often used by boisterous boys flying about while tossing around a quaffle.

"Xeno, are you okay over there? We should be heading out. Molly said that we need to be at their house at noon and we barely have five minutes left!" Pandora says with a smile despite the obvious need for haste. She chuckles upon noticing that her sweet husband seems so engrossed with a magazine that he was yet to give a response. Having just recently married, she was now a few months pregnant with their first baby. She hopes to have a beautiful baby girl. Maybe she'll give birth on Valentine's day, wouldn't that be romantic? Her Valentines gift to Xenophilius, a beautiful baby girl. Then again, giving birth on the 13th, as estimated by the mediwitch, probably wouldn't be that bad either. It is still the month of hearts after all. Shaking her head to get rid of her amusing thoughts, she clears her throat, "Xeno, honey?"

"Hmmm? What is it sweetie?" Xenophilius questions as he finally looks up, putting down the latest copy of The Quibbler.

"Time to go honey. Molly and Arthur are waiting for us so we can all head together to the meeting. I received a message earlier that Lily and James are already there. We better get moving as well," says Pandora with a small smile upon noticing a smudge of ink on her husband's cheek. With a flick of her wand and a whispered, " _Scourgify"_ she fixes the mess and proceeds to pull her husband off of the chair.

"Oh thank you sweetie! I was just making a few notes earlier to make sure we include a feature on creatures we need to take better care of so that we can continue getting ingredients for some potions. You know how poaching has been increasing lately in the black market with all those thugs brewing more and more experimental potions," Xenophilius exclaims with a huff, clearly frustrated with the abuse of magical creatures. Not only that, but Xenophilius knew that as a Potions Mistress, his wife definitely needs ingredients that can only be sourced from certain magical creatures.

"Yes, yes. But regardless, we really do need to get going," Pandora replies, "shall we?"

* * *

 **September 1980, France**

"I'm here!" The 26-year old woman exclaims as she lands softly on the grounds of a vast garden filled with a wild variety of both magical and muggle plants. It has been almost a year since she left her own country to seek safety and yet, she has been unable to meet with her most beloved. 'Finally some semblance of family life,' she muses with a soft sigh. The woman looks around cautiously given the silence that greets her arrival. Walking forward, she observes nothing wrong with the scene but she takes careful and measured steps; she reaches to draw her wand as a body suddenly collides with her.

"Ooof! Baby girl, what are you doing running around here?" The woman exclaims upon recognizing her best friend's 2 year-old daughter who was now clinging quite tightly to her robe. She looks around tersely, trying to find any potential threats and possibly find said 2 year old's mother.

"Fleur! What 'ave I told 'ou about running off? 'Ou should always stay wiz me!" says a blonde 30 year-old woman. The 2 (nearly 3) year old girl, who looks quite the miniature version of her blonde mother, looks up with her startlingly blue eyes and apologizes with a mumbled "Je suis desole."

"It's okay with, me petite. But 'ou had me worried. 'Ou know you're my little princess," Apolline coos at her daughter, "now let go of your Aunty's leg and let her finally introduce us to our little Mia properly." Apolline looks fondly at the little bundle the other woman has been cradling to her chest.

"'Ou should 'ave come by weeks or even months ago!" the blonde then rounds towards the other woman. It was the first time she was seeing her best friend's daughter despite basically a year having passed since her birth. Sadly, things took time to settle down hence although she was scolding the other woman for not visiting sooner, she understood that precautions had to be done.

Fleur suddenly lets go of the woman's robe but jumps up and latches firmly to the woman's waist and tries to reach the baby's face. The young blonde smiles slightly looking at the baby while the two mothers takes in surprise the scene before them. As a 2 year old, Fleur has always been shy towards other children. While adults was quickly taken by her beauty and natural charm, children was usually not easily won over by the young blonde. It was therefore a pleasant surprise and relief to Apolline that her daughter appears to be drawn to the little bundle of joy that was going to share their home for the foreseeable future.

The other woman smiles softly at the little girl who was undeniably drawn towards her sleeping bundle of joy, "Fleur, this here is our little _**Hermione**_."

* * *

 **September 1980, England**

"Minerva," Dumbledore calls his most trusted lieutenant. "Are we ready to start?"

"Most of the others are here. The Bones, Lupins, and Longbottoms have been here since noon. The Weasleys and Lovegoods should be here any minute now. Oh, and the Potters just arrived a few minutes ago. I think they were trying to make sure that Harry is sleeping soundly. However, Andromeda is yet to arrive," Minerva states with certainty.

"And of course, we cannot start without Andromeda, can we now?" Dumbledore asks with a twinkle in his eye.

"Oh shush you! You know we need everyone here before we start. Stop it with your insinuations," Minerva replies curtly. Truth be told, they can likely start the meeting without Andromeda. She's not about to admit that she would definitely prefer the meeting to start only upon the witch's arrival, if nothing else but to soothe her nerves. But of course, there's no way was she about to give Albus more ammunition to work with. If anything, he should be tight lipped about the whole thing, not anything but. Long-term plans and even lives are at stake here!

Just then, a loud wail could be heard resounding within the four walls of the dark house. As expected, Minerva winces as she is particularly sensitive to loud noises given her sensitive ears - likely due to her enhanced hearing from her animagus status. On the other hand, Albus calmly flicks his wand and the noise stops abruptly closely followed by a loud "Oh shit," exclaimed by the new arrival.

"Andromeda Tonks! Must you always set off the alarm when you decide to enter through the door? I can just imagine the example you will be setting for Nymphadora," Minerva partially grumbles as she tries to shake off the after effects of being exposed to loud noises.

"Sorry, Minerva," answers Andromeda sheepishly, "it wasn't my intention to set off the alarm again. I just tend to forget to disable the alarms before entering the door when I'm in a hurry. I don't know why Lily insisted adding that bloody muggle alarm anyway. It's not like we're short of wards. We have blood wards in this place, for Merlin's sake!" It was a well-known fact that Lily has her ingenious moments. As such, it was her idea to add a muggle alarm especially since most British Wizarding citizens are unfamiliar with such devices, unless of course they have relations to muggles.

"Well, since you're here Andromeda, please dust yourself off as we're about to start the meeting that was supposed to start half an hour ago," Albus says, although without any malice. Andromeda shrugs in apology for her tardiness and proceeds to straighten out her robes. Afterwards, she turns towards the slightly older woman with a sheepish smile.

"I'm sorry I kept you waiting. I know you've been waiting for a while but…." Andromeda begins to say but was then cut off by Minerva.

"The delay is understandable Andy. I was worried but I knew it would take you some time," Minerva quickly reassures Andromeda. At this, Dumbledore chuckles slightly and proceeds to interrupt the two ladies. "As much as I know that Minerva has been waiting for your news Andromeda, might I suggest to talk about this later? The others are already all settled in the living room so we really do need to get started."

"Apologies, Albus. Let's go."

"As you all know, for the past years, more and more have been joining either the Morsemordre, Slug Club or the Hounds. Even worse, there has been a gradual decrease in law enforcers. It seems that while we have a steady number of Investigators, there are not a lot who push forward to become Aurors, much less become Senior Aurors or Hit Wizards. We need more people who are willing to fight those who are merely driven by greed for control and power.

I know that it has been some years since we last all met but the problem with these groups is slowly rising again. Especially with Tom went on his own and formed the Morsmordre. His group seems to be an even bigger threat than the Slug Club."

"Is he working with or against Horace and his Sluggers?" Molly questions Albus.

"I am not sure yet. From what I've gathered so far, it seems their separation happened because Horace refused to give Tom access to his collection of rare book on the Dark Arts. Presumably, Tom wanted information on old dark spells and rituals which Horace thought would possibly have led to Tom betraying him. While it was good that Horace stopped Tom from gaining access to his library, because Merlin knows some of his books contain such ancient magic and Tom might actually find a way to make himself immortal if he had access to such books... it seems to have driven Tom to form his own group. And I must say his groups seems to be growing formidable."

Albus stops briefly in his explanation and takes a moment to observe the reactions of his colleagues, previous students, and dear friends. The Weasleys looked determine to prove their bravery and worth, as expected from the family who proudly espouses the trait Gryffindor's are known for. The Lovegoods look unperturbed but thoughtful. The Potters look worried, much like the rest of the people gathered with him inside the magically expanded room. 'How I wish none of these faces see darkness, but it's dark times ahead and we need to prepare, especially for the sake of the children,' Albus thinks solemnly.

"Alright then, this means we need to be alert ourselves everyone. We need to be at our best and we definitely need more people who are willing to fight, should the need arise. We should also make sure that all the children are safe but we should also make sure that they are also prepared. And I'm not saying to train them to become Investigators and Aurors and such, but while our Ministry remains stubborn in meddling with Hogwarts to forbid the school to take in students earlier than at 11 years old, we need to make sure there is no accidental magic around muggles. The best way to do that is to start training early," Minerva speaks up after a stretch of silence followed Albus' words. This snaps everyone back to attention as some respond with firm nods and grim smiles. Albus sighs and quietly bids his farewell as discussions quickly rose among those in attendance.

In another corner of the room, Minerva sits with a slight frown on her face thinking on the implications of what has just been discussed. She sighs as she realizes this is likely going take her away from her family yet again. She then stands up in search of Andromeda. She has a message she needs to give.

* * *

 **September 1981, England**

In the usually happy house in Godric's Hollow, the Potters can be found pacing nervously in their bedroom. They have just received a post from the current Headmaster that he had important news to give.

"James, Lily," Albus calls out to them from the fireplace.

"What is this about Albus?" James asks with a worried tone. Lily stands by his side with their baby boy, born just a little over a year ago, sleeping in her arms.

"Nothing good, I'm afraid. It seems that Tom has become quite obsessed to finding a way to become immortal and was able to acquire part of a prophecy made by Sybill some time ago," Albus says gravely.

"Sybil? Since when does she give real prophecies? I thought she was a fake! She's always been saying she is just like her great-great-grandmother, the great Seer Cassandra, but no one's heard her predict even the weather for the next day correctly!" Lily exclaims in disbelief.

"While she is no great Seer, my dear, Sybill is nonetheless an Oracle. Hence she occasionally has true predictions, although no prophecies of this magnitude," Albus replies. He pauses and considers if he should withhold the prophecy he just heard.

"You came here specifically for a reason Albus. Otherwise you would have informed all of us at the same time in an Order meeting. So please tell us how this concerns us and should we be worried?" Lilly says softly but firmly.

"The prophecy was given to me Lily. But Tom was able to hear it," Albus replies slowly.

 _"Unity among humans, creature and hybrids approaches.. Born to merge the lines of the greatest mages… The One to lead and bring peace will be born in the ninth month of the year… She will break barriers with her destined match and her Second..."_

"Albus, do we know anyone giving birth this month? Or someone who has already given birth? Do you need our help to find this child?" James asks.

"This was given to me two years past James. I'm telling you this now since the latter part of prophecy was acquired by Tom and this may concern someone we all care about," Albus replies.

 _"But beware the Eaters of Death are rising and the Dark One seeks destruction… until the One destined to lead comes together with her destined match born to the skies and her Second to be born as the seventh month dies in the new decade…the Dark One will see destruction…"_

"This is about _**her**_ , isn't it? Does she know already? Like she doesn't have enough in her plate already. And the Second.. Is that my Harry? Merlin, Tom has members of the Morsmordre calling themselves Death Eaters!"

"It's about to get worse, isn't it?"

"I'm hoping for the best, but we need to prepare for the worst."


	2. Chapter 2: Hogwarts, A Trigger

**February 24, 2017 (Word Count: 7,286)**

 **Disclaimer: I practically own none of these. My name is not J.K. Rowling hence I do not own the wonderful Harry Potter and his universe. I have sourced numerous names and details (characters, books, shop names, etc.) from the books, movies, Pottermore and even the Harry Potter Wikia. There are certain excerpts that I have lifted directly from the books (marked with an asterisk*). Numerous terms from other magical worlds have been borrowed and redefined to fit what I want.**

Onwards.

* * *

 **CHAPTER TWO: HOGWARTS, A TRIGGER**

 **September 1984, France (Three Years Later)**

The past couple of years has been kind to the now 30 year-old woman. Despite the stress brought about by the circumstances back in her home land, she was as happy as she could be with her sweet daughter who is about to have her 5th birthday in two weeks. She and her daughter has spent a lot of time with the Delacours, who has graciously taken them in four years ago. It has been a long four years as she has only been able to communicate with her lover through a few owl posts. Communication needed to be limited as the gangs have been relentless in trying to find those involved in the prophecy. She curses the day that Sybill had to prove that she wasn't an quack and that Albus and Tom had to witness the double-edged damnable prophecy. If they were to make the connection between the prophecy and her daughter, then that would place both of them in even more danger. Especially herself, as she travels back and forth between France and England in order to help with the efforts of the Order of the Phoenix by playing the part of a high-ranking member of the Morsemordre.

"Fleur!"

The woman looks up, startled to hear her best friend shouting for her daughter. She takes the time to observe her goddaughter who was actually playing with her own daughter.

"Oui, maman?" little 6-year old Fleur replies to Apolline, "iz it time to 'ead back yet? Can we pleaze stay a lizzle bit longer?"

"Yes Aunty, pwease? It's my birthday soon, I'm a big girl! I don't need a nap!" a 4-year old Hermione pouts at Apolline.

Apolline chuckles lightly upon hearing the pleas of her daughter and her goddaughter. Years ago when she herself was just a child, she remembered playing with her own best friend. Now, here they were with their own daughters who they promised to both protect in case something happens to them and their spouses. Hence they were the godmothers of their respective daughters. And just like how they were before, their daughters were thick as thieves. But unlike the two of them who were more sisters than anything else, she cannot help but wonder if there may come a time that her little Fleur and their little Hermione might mean more to each other than friends. Given her ancestry, she knew at once that she and her best friend were set to be just that - best of friends. All throughout the time that she has known her best friend, her inner Veela did not call out to her as one should expect upon meeting a possible mate. For now Fleur is far from reaching the age of Veela maturity, which is set at 17, but she cannot help but observe the way her daughter lights up whenever she is around her goddaughter. 'Time will tell,' she muses to herself.

"Maman? Can we pleaze? My birthday iz near too. I'm going to be 7 and don't need lotz of zleep" little Fleur repeats her request, joining little Hermione in displaying a pout to her mother.

"We pwomises that we'll be good and stay just here if you let us play pwease?" little Hermione continues to make their case.

"Oh come now you two. Little 4 and 6-year olds, even those turning into 5 and 7-year olds in the next few weeks still need their nap time! Now, please pack up your toys and head back to the house," Apolline replies to the children. Having had her best friend with her for the past four years has greatly improved her English. Not to say that her companion isn't fluent in French as well but they prefer to speak in English so that most locals cannot easily eavesdrop on their conversations. She's hoping that in a few years, her little Fleur will also get to be fluent in the language, especially if they would ever need to go to England (be that for business or pleasure they are yet to see). However, while the two Delacours have taken to speaking in English around their house guests, their accents were still quite notable as outside the house both blondes still need to speak in their native tongue.

"Okay, Maman. But on my birthzay we get to play longer, won't we 'Ermione?" little Fleur replies with a cute smile, "Cmon 'Ermione, lez clean up and we'll nap before milk and cookiez!"

"Yaaay! Wait for me Fleur!" little Hermione excitedly follows little Fleur back to their spot.

"And you, my dear, are of no help. Must you just watch me as I round up our daughters for their afternoon nap? What if I gave in to those adorable pouts they seem to have picked up? And I know you taught them that you evil woman," Apolline turns to her best friend as the children went about packing their toys.

"Now, now, Apolline, you know as much as I do that children their age, especially children with our amazing genes cannot help but be adorable. It's just natural!" the other woman laughs in glee.

"Sure," Apolline rolls her eyes in response, "anyway, here, this was dropped off for you by your sister. You were out at the market when she arrived and she could only stay long enough to deliver this. She did seem a little worse for wear, now that I think about it." Apolline hands of a letter to the other woman who quickly rises from her seat to retrieve the letter.

"Well what does it say?" asks Apolline as she starts to get worried due to the increasingly paling face of the other woman. The other woman remains silent as she rereads the short missive sent to her.

 _"Darling,_

 _It's time. We need you to focus on your role now. It is as you last reported. Tom seems to have become obsessed with the prophecy and I fear for both you and our daughter; I fear more for you should he ever find out that you are the mother of the child he deems the bane of his existence. My heart breaks that we need to leave Hermione but for now we have to keep her safe. As we planned it, please bring her to your cousin and come back to me. She will be safe and I will take care of you._

 _Until then."_

As usual, the letter remains unsigned. Nonetheless, she would always recognize the handwriting, and if that wasn't a dead give away, the two of them only refers to each other as My Love or Darling and ends their letter with their usual goodbye of "Until then."

"I can't tell if it says the absolute worst or the absolute best, Apolline. Let's go head back inside for the children's nap. I need to start packing and it's time to go find my cousin," the woman replies.

* * *

 **September 1990, England (Another Six Years Later)**

For about eight years now Derek Granger has been married to Helen Granger, his loving wife, who he met while out in the market ten years ago. Clichéd as it may be, Derek felt like the world stood still as he bumped into Helen and she flashed him a sweet smile. Of course he didn't immediately assume that he would marry her. But the fluttering feeling from that smile helped him make the decision to promptly apologize for bumping into her and offer to take her out for coffee. In all honesty, they were worlds apart - perhaps almost literally. She was light skinned, he was dark skinned. She was a blonde, he was raven-haired. She was the eldest child, he was the youngest. She loved to spend time indoors and read a book, he loved to go out and enjoy the wilderness. And perhaps the most crucial of all, she was a muggle, and he was _**magical**_.

So now Derek sat silently by the window, deep in thought. People passing by who might chance a look through the window would have thought him asleep given his current position - leaning back against the armchair with his eyes slightly closed. He was so deep in his thoughts; he basically tuned out the world around him. Looking closely at him, one would see that he was clutching a letter quite tightly. What would cause a handsome man such as Derek to become buried in his thoughts, one might ask? Well you see, this particular letter, besides being written in what appears to be parchment (imagine parchment being used this day and age), was sealed using the wax seal of a particular school not many are privy to. This was the seal only magical people were able to discern.

As such, Derek was among those privy to the wax seal pressed in to the letter he was currently holding. After all, one is not ranked a _**warlock**_ without at least having graduated from a magical school that would hone one's skill and magical talent. Being a warlock meant that Derek was magically more powerful than the average _**witch or wizard**_. Were he to go through further training or perhaps innate power as some lucky few had, he could rise above being a level 3 warlock and maybe eventually become at least a level 1 _**sorcerer**_. He wouldn't actually dream to become a _**druid**_ , and much less a _**mage**_. But going back to the letter at hand, Derek couldn't help but frown slightly as he stared at the letter in his hand.

A letter that was, in fact, not addressed to him but rather to his niece. Of course, he has always known that his niece was special. After all, it isn't exactly an everyday occurrence that a 11 year-old child could be found studying subjects such as Chemistry, Geometry, and Philosophical Anthropology, isn't it? A child who has officially been recognized as a genius in the muggle academe world was certainly special. What bothered him about receiving the letter for his niece was from what he could tell, his niece was a muggle, or at best a _**squib**_. For the past five or six years that his niece has been in his care, she has never displayed accidental magic. And since he was never informed otherwise, he was never bothered by the lack of magical accidents that most magical households with children were exposed to, as was the norm when he grew up in his childhood home with his brother and other cousins. Thinking back, he also cannot clearly recall who the biological parents of his niece are. He knows he should know. He's claimed plenty of times that Hermione is his cousin's daughter but as he struggle to remember the name of his cousin, he finds his mind going blank. Upon further contemplation, he realizes that something is wrong. And he has a feeling what it is. He just wasn't quite sure yet.

He hesitates briefly. It has been quite some time since he has received any correspondence from the school. In fact, he wasn't expecting any letter from them until about 3 years from now. Shouldering on, he breaks the seal and opens the letter.

-OoOoO-

 _ **Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - Acceptance Letter**_

 _Headmaster: Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

 _(Order of Merlin, First Class; Druid, Level 3; Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards)_

 _Dear ,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in light of your magical heritage. Please find enclosed list of all necessary books and equipment._

 _Term begins on 01 September 1991. We await your owl no later than 31 July 1991._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Filius Flitwick_

 _Deputy Headmaster_

 _ **Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - List of Books and Equipment**_

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

Three sets of plain work robes (black)

One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Books of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Draughts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self- Protection by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set of glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl or a cat or a toad, or their Ministry-registered familiars.

Parents are reminded that First Years are not allowed their own broomstick.

-OoOoO-

Upon reading the letter in its entirety, Derek suddenly felt nauseous. Like a switch has been flipped, memories he seems to have forgotten floods his mind.

* * *

 _Flashback to six years ago (September 1984, England)_

 _A relatively short woman with a dominating presence could be seen rushing through the crowd. Having just celebrated the 5th birthday of her daughter with her best friend's family, she ponders again if she truly has the strength to let her baby go for the next 6 years. She knows she must do it, of course. She needed her baby safe and she had a part to play in the growing gang wars. What's more, she understood that her baby will eventually have a crucial role to play as well. 'Damn that stupid prophecy,' she inwardly curses as she hugs her 5-year old daughter tighter to her chest as she pauses to check the street signs. She would've apparated to her destination had it not been the middle of the day on weekend. She knew that the house she was going to was straddling the border between two villages - one magical and one muggle. Personally, she would have preferred to say in a magical neighborhood, if only so she can play Quidditch during the weekends without double checking their wards and repelling charms. But of course, she understood the reason why her dearest cousin chose this particular house. Who would have thought that out of them, he was the one who goes and falls in love with a muggle. But not to say that she had anything against muggles. She had dozens of muggle friends!_

 _*Diiing!* She waits patiently by the door, albeit slightly wary of the looks that was being thrown her way. She cannot exactly blame the passersby, she knew she was going to the muggle neighborhood yet she was not able to find the time to transfigure her robe into something more appropriate. Thank goodness her robes these days were the modern kind that somehow looked more like a trench coat if one was not use to a magical wardrobe. *diiiiiinnnnggg!* *knock knock*_

 _"Open up!" she hisses through the door as she starts to get impatient. The stares are starting to get to her and slowly breaking her resolve. The door was then wrenched open and a young man with dark hair faces her with a startled look._

 _"Finally, I thought you were never going to open the door!" she says as she hurriedly rushes past him and enters the house without an invitation._

 _The young man takes time to shake himself out of his stupor and slowly closes the door. He takes a deep breath and turns to follow the older woman to the kitchen. Or at least that's where he thought she was headed._

 _"What are you doing here?" he asks, a little unsurely._

 _"I sent you a letter, didn't I? I told you I would drop by," she replies in amusement._

 _"Well yes, but I had thought that might have been a prank. I thought you all hated me, especially you," he replies with a frown while shaking his head in disbelief that his cousin actually stepped foot in his house, in his decidedly muggle-friendly house._

 _"I told you I needed your help and so I came. I never joke about such matters and you should have recognized my seal. For Merlin's sake you used to be so jealous of my seal! You'd think you'd have memorized it to the littlest details," she says, "now lower your voice you silly boy. Unless you want to wake up this little bundle of joy here."_

 _Startled, the young man takes a step back and only then notices that his cousin was in fact carrying a toddler in her arms. His first reaction would have been to accuse the woman of stealing a child but then upon close inspection he noticed that the child was quite comfortably sleeping in her arms. In fact, the child was cuddling quite closely and appeared very contented snuggled up to the older woman._

 _"Who is that, cousin?" he decides to ask carefully. The child might seem comfortable and unharmed but he wasn't about to take any changes, the situation was surreal even without the toddler in the picture._

 _"She, baby cousin, is the reason I wrote you that damned letter to begin with," she huffs out, " I need you to take care of her for the foreseeable future."_

 _"Foreseeable future? How long is that exactly? We both know how vague one can be when it comes to time, especially given our longer lifespans. And whose child is she anyway? Please do not tell me you killed her parents," he rapidly fires off the top questions that popped into his mind upon hearing the somewhat preposterous request from his cousin. Upon seeing her grim face and her continued silence, he exclaims in horror, "Oh Merlin you did! You killed her parents! I thought you were just going through a phase cousin. Have you actually joined the Morsmordre as Auntie and Uncle were boasting to Mother and Father? Are you Tom's most loyal follower now? One of those Death Eaters?!" He takes a step back and continues to stare at his cousin in horror._

 _She chuckles darkly upon hearing his words. Knowing that he had reason to believe the words he so callously throws at her face, it was after the image she was tasked to build for herself. She sighs, as much as she was happy to be helping with the gang wars and that she was becoming successful, she never anticipated how much of an elaborate mask she had to create, even in front of most of her family._

 _"Before anything else, I will need a magical oath from you. I would have preferred an unbreakable vow but seeing as no one is here to act as a witness, a magical oath will do just as fine. I will not have you spreading anything of what I am about to discuss with you," she informs him._

 _"Now see here cousin, you cannot come barging into my home uninvited, demanding for help and asking for a magical oath to boot without giving me a reason! How am I even supposed to know that whatever you will tell me is the truth and not some messed up story to try to bring me to your side!" he protests vehemently. Any magical person knew that a magical oath was sworn to either one's life or his magic and breaking the oath would result to the person losing his life or magic._

 _The older woman smiles slightly, "At least you are not as stupid as one would believe cousin." In a quick motion that the young man almost misses, the older woman suddenly has her wand in her hand._

 _"Look, I don't want any trouble here but…." he trails off as the woman seemingly ignores him and brings up her wand._

 _"I swear on my life and my magic that for the next hour I will say nothing but the truth and I will bring no harm to anyone in this house, so mote it be," she says softly but firmly and she glows briefly in white, signifying that magic has recognized her magical oath._

 _Fascinated, the young man felt like he was a loss. Not only did his cousin swear a magical oath, she swore by both her life and magic. He can only take this to mean that whatever his cousin was involved him was very important, and most likely very dangerous._

 _"I hope that satisfies you. Now then," she raises an eyebrow at him expectantly._

 _"Bollocks! Warn a man, will you?" he exclaims._

 _"Shhh! Must you use such language? I have a child here!" she huffs out in irritation._

 _The younger man stops himself from rolling his eyes, as if his cousin was a model of what prim and proper was. He knew for a fact that the woman could curse up a storm in a fit of anger. But of course he wasn't about to bring that up given that he wanted to know whatever brought her to his home, alone and with a child who seem to have popped out of nowhere. Seeing his cousin grow increasingly impatient and remembering the timeline given in her magical oath, he clears his throat and gives his own oath, "I swear on my magic that I will not divulge anything to be discussed in the next hour within this house without the express permission of both parties, so mote it be." He glowed briefly in white, signifying that his oath was also recognized by magic._

 _Besides a brief raise of her eyebrow, the woman did not comment on the magical oath given by her cousin. She had business to discuss and his oath would suffice for now._

 _"Alright, there's your oath cousin, what's all this about?" he decides to get the conversation moving. He has a date to go in about 2 hours and if this conversation is to last for an hour, he needed that other hour to get ready._

 _"This child here is my daughter, Hermione," she says softly while gazing down at the child in her arms. She was gazing down at the girl with so much love that even without the magical oath, he would have been hard pressed not to believe her words._

 _"Yours? How old is she? Who is the father? Why has no one ever seen her before? Merlin, how can no one notice that you were pregnant?!" he fires off question after question. He felt that his head was swimming with this revelation. Of all the things his cousin could have said, this was not what he was expecting at all._

 _"She just turned five years old last week. Her father is none of your business. I had her somewhere safe. And seriously, what you think magic can't hide a pregnancy?" she answers just as fast. "Now if you're done with your nonsense babbling, do you mind?"_

 _"How can her father not be my business? You aren't married!" he replies._

 _"Says who?" she asks with her eyebrow raised as she stared at him._

 _The young man opens his mouth and shuts it abruptly. Truth be told, he has not been updated much about the wizarding world for the past year and even before that, he has tried to steer clear of his cousin. Not that it took much to steer clear of her. He thought that all of his family already cut him off and shunned him since he started seeing Helen._

 _"Clearly, you have been misinformed. As is the rest of the world. No matter, going back to why I am here in the first place. My daughter is in danger in the wizarding world. When she was born I wanted to stop connections with the Morsemordre as I no longer only had to think about myself but a baby as well. I initially thought bringing her outside the country would be enough. Given her parentage, I knew that a lot of people would think to use her for their own motives, especially upon learning my real intentions. Besides Tom and Horace, Quirinus and Dolores are both definitely up to nothing good. And recent news has led to the need that Hermione be hidden from the wizarding world as much as possible. I have to help and go back the life everyone was so sure I was living," she says. The "including you" did not need to be spoken out loud._

 _"What exactly is this recent news?" he asks._

 _"More than five years ago, when I was pregnant with Hermione, Albus approached us and informed us of a prophecy that, in short, basically says my daughter is destined to bring unity to the magical world but before that happens she needs to have her destined match and Second by her side since Tom is likely going to go off his bonkers and want to destroy everything with his crazy ideals. In order for my daughter to fulfill this so-called destiny, she actually needs to be safe and get a chance to grow up. I hate prophecies but there is no denying the validity of this one. It was a given by Sybill but we both know she's at least an Oracle if not a Seer like her grandmother. So we spent almost a year preparing everything so that it would be me who will stay with Hermione outside of England. For the past four years we have stayed with one of our most trusted friends. No one would have noticed me going in and out of England as I am not known to have any particular job. Everyone assumes that I am fully committed to the Morsemordre and that I spend most days carrying out whatever mission Tom can think off," at this the woman cannot help but scoff. As if the idea of Tom being able to force her to do anything was utterly preposterous, "now I know you have been cut-off by the family since you started pursuing this…" she trails off a little unsurely._

 _"Helen. My fiancée's name is Helen," he supplies the name of his fiancée_

 _"Right, since your relationship to Helen has come to light you have been cut-off and have been living generally in the muggle world, although if my sources are correct, and they always are, you are currently working in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes at the Ministry," she stops briefly looking to him for confirmation._

 _"I don't want to know how you got that information since my contract was supposed to be strictly confidential so that no one knows I am working there. But yes, I got offered a position there upon my graduation so I am currently a level 1 Distorter there," he informs her._

 _"Interesting, never thought you were one to manipulate reality. Anyway, given your current connection to the muggle world, and more importantly the perceived relationship between us, I highly doubt that even if someone should discover that I had a daughter who is key to this prophecy, that they will even consider searching for her here," she finishes._

 _"So let me get this straight, you are part of the Morsemordre and working for Tom and you hightailed out of the country when you had your daughter two years ago since you believed she will be used against you and whoever the father might be. But since Professor Dumbledore has informed you of a prophecy involving your daughter, whose father name you continue to refuse to tell me, you have decided that moving out of the country is not enough, rather you would prefer to return here to England and leave your daughter in my care, in the muggle world while you go back to work with the Morsemordre. Oh plus to put the cherry on top, this is all apparently a front for you. So what exactly do you believe in?" he summarizes and upon saying that out loud, he cannot believe all of it to be true. But then his cousin swore an oath and he knew it was binding._

 _Just then a rattling of a doorknob could be heard and the door slowly opened. "Derek! Are you home sweetie? I got us some groceries. The Mills will be coming over later for dinner so I thought I'd prepare a lovely pot roast. I told Regina there's no need to bring anything though knowing her I'm sure she'll bring along a tray of her wonderful lasagna." The young man's obviously pregnant fiancée suddenly appeared by the doorway of the kitchen. "Oh. Hello there, I'm Helen, Derek's fiancée." she greets the older woman without hesitation._

 _"Helen," the older woman greets her with a nod, "I'm the cousin of that thing over there, Derek, was it?" the woman replies as she jerks her thumb towards the direction of the young man in question._

 _"Yes cousin, she knows me as Derek here. She knows my real name but for safety she has taken to calling me Derek Granger here in the muggle world. She understands." Derek replies._

 _"Derek Granger. Couldn't have picked a more muggle name even if you wanted. Helen, feel free to take a seat, I shouldn't take too long. Now going back, yes you are correct in your understanding. But what you don't know is that I am working under Albus for the Order of the Phoenix and it was because of his instructions that I joined the Morsemordre three years ago. He let me stop for a while when I had Hermione but given the prophecy and the birth of the Potter boy, it seems he wants me back to work." the older woman continues._

 _"Can't you leave her with the child's father? You implied that you are married," Derek questions her._

 _"I am married. But I cannot leave Hermione with her other parent. It's not safe either. As I said, Hermione's parentage would likely cause others with ill intentions towards either of us to want to use Hermione for leverage. I cannot have that. We cannot have that." she replies curtly and in a way that says the topic was not up for discussion._

 _"So what would you have me do? Pretend that she is my child so that I can care for her? I know I am already 21, but I hardly think they will believe that I got Helen pregnant when I was 15 or 16! Nobody has a child at that age anymore! Only careless teenagers who can't do protection spells or are too drunk to care. And everyone knows I've only ever been with Helen," Derek states with a frown marring his features. Helen, who has taken a seat next to her fiancé, grabs his hand and slowly strokes it, "It would not be a problem. I love children and she is your niece Derek. Family is family."_

 _The older woman smiles briefly upon hearing Helen's words, "care for her? Yes. Pretend to be her father? Definitely not. I need you to act as her legal guardians. The both of you. But you understand what else I would have to do to ensure this works don't you?"_

 _Derek nods but stays quiet for a while. Helen, not quite up to speed with the magical duo, speaks up, "Derek? What else needs to be done?"_

 _Derek looks up with his jaw set firmly, "She needs to alter our memories and likely even Hermione's so that we do not recall most if not all of this conversation. Especially since you are non-magical, your mind is practically an open book to anyone with mild Legilimens training and such knowledge must not fall in the wrong hands. What's the back story going to be cousin?"_

 _"I understand that Helen is an only child and that since her parents are very old she does not have a lot of close relatives left? Then they will not be a problem. And since you have been cut-off from the family, cousin, you can make it out to be that Hermione was the daughter of cousin who died a few years ago. Nobody the wiser that said cousin, me, is actually still alive. You are new to the neighborhood; setting up a new story shouldn't be too hard. What's more is that I actually will have to alter your memories. This meeting never happened, Derek. You won't remember that Hermione is mine and nobody will be able to tell you otherwise." the older woman quickly states her plan._

 _"And what of the others who know of Hermione?" Derek wonders._

 _"There are very few in England who knows of Hermione. Just a handful really and most of them have had their memories altered - with their express permission of course. We would need to do the same for the both of you as well," the woman explains calmly. She then turns to Helen, "You have to understand that we won't be erasing your memories per se. More like it will lie dormant until the time comes. We've determined that the day she turns 11, we will have the spell lifted from the both of you, as well as Hermione, so that you will remember who she really is and that I am her mother. This will also help you when she needs to start her magical education," she says as she looks at them directly in their eyes, "so will you help me?"_

 _End of flashback._

* * *

"Oh Merlin," he whispers to himself in dismay, "She must have found a way to make the Hogwarts letter the trigger so I can remember. I can't believe she stayed away for 10 years. Merlin. What do I do now?"

"Derek, honey, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost," Helen asks him as she enters the living room. She pauses briefly and takes in the appearance of her husband, from the pale face to the slightly twitching fingers. Then she takes note of the letter in his hand. Having been married to Derek for eight years now and with Derek wanting to be completely honest with her ever since she agreed to marry him, she was well aware of the broken seal in the letter clutched tightly by her husband. "Why do you have a letter from Hogwarts, honey? Surely they cannot have any concerns about Marcus yet. He's only about to turn six years old after all."

"Helen, you know how we're always claiming that Hermione is the daughter of my cousin who passed away?" he replies after a short pause.

"Yes, of course, what else could we have told them," she laughs in reply.

"Well, do you remember which cousin of mine is her parent? Do you remember her name?" he continues in a serious tone.

"Hmmm," this has Helen thinking for a while before eventually realizing she could not answer in the affirmative. "You know what Derek, for the life of me, I can't seem to recall. But that really shouldn't matter. We love Hermione as if she was our own and we both know that Marcus loves her very much and she loves all of us as well."

"Yes, yes, she is family regardless. But what I'm trying to tell you Helen is that it does matter. Because this letter is a Hogwarts acceptance letter for Hermione," he finally says.

Helen stares at her husband for a moment and then snatches the letter from his hand. As she reads the letter, Derek takes the time to observe her reaction. Just as how he assumes he looked like moments ago when he was the one reading the letter, Helen initially looked shocked. Then, upon flipping to the next sheet of parchment, the look of shocks transforms to slight confusion. And finally, upon nearing the end of the letter, Derek noted that Helen had a dazed look. As quickly as he shook it off earlier, Helen seemed to recover from her daze and she sought out the eyes of her husband.

"Derek…" she whispers.

"You remember now as well, don't you?" he asks solemnly.

"Derek.. Hermione? Your cousin? Jesus! How must she have felt leaving her child to us for almost a decade! Will she come back and get Hermione now? Does Hermione remember as well? Oh my goodness.." Helen says as she sinks down next to her husband to take a seat by the window. Derek remains quiet for a while. Thinking over his wife's questions along with his own. He has come a long way from being the 18 year old boy who started out as a trainee in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes at the Ministry. Besides being a level 3 Warlock, he has worked hard in the past years for his specialty in magic and is now officially recognized as a level 2 Distorter in said department.

"Come on," says Derek to his wife as he finally stands up from his seat.

"Where are you going, Derek?" his wife asks in bewilderment.

"We need to give the letter to Hermione, she's in her room," Derek replies.

Opening the door to his niece's room, he notes that she was currently poring over one of her thick text books. He knocks gently on the door to get the attention of the young 10 year-old.

"Hermione, dear?" Derek approaches his niece slowly.

"Yes, Uncle? Is something the matter?" Hermione looks up from her textbook to see her Aunt and Uncle standing by her bedroom door.

"This letter arrived for you today," Derek responds and delicately hands off the letter to Hermione.

"Oh, good. Is it the letter of acceptance to another university, Uncle? I've been waiting to make my decision after I've received all my options," Hermione cheerfully responds as she stands to get the letter being offered by her uncle.

"Yes, it's an acceptance letter to a school dear but it's not exactly a university," her uncle replies.

"Not a university, Uncle? Is this one of those independent programs again? You know I'm still considering those as well," Hermione shrugs in reply and starts to read the letter.

"Not exactly that either, Hermione…" Derek replies. Once again he observes his niece as she takes the time to read through the first page. And once again, as his niece reaches the end of the second page, she looks dazed for a moment.

* * *

 _Flashback to six years ago (September 1984, France)_

 _"Fleurrrr! I don't wanna nap! I turned 5 last week, this can be your second present to me pwease?" little Hermione says while stomping her feet._

 _"Je suis desole, Mia. 'Ou heard maman. We need to take our nap today but tomorrow we won't need to becauze 'ou are going on a trip. So c'mon. I promised maman we would behave," little Fleur replies as she tugs on the little Hermione's hand._

 _"Little Star, listen to Fleur, please? You'll have lots of time to play tomorrow, I promise." little Hermione is suddenly swept into the arms of her mother who peppers her face with little kisses as she promises more play time the next day. "Now come, the both of you, I'll tuck you in."_

 _As the woman tucks in her daughter, she sighs sadly. After all, she knows that tomorrow would likely break her little Hermione's heart._

 _(Next morning...)_

 _"Momma! It's morning momma! Let's go plaaaay!" little Hermione says as she jumps on her mother's back._

 _"Sush, Little Star. You can play later. We need to get going," her mother replies as she flicks her wand to shrink their bags._

 _"Where we going momma?" little Hermione asks innocently, "Can Fleur come pwease?"_

 _"I'm sorry Little Star but she can't. I'm taking you to your uncle. You need to stay with him for a while, okay Little Star? Momma needs to do something really important and I need you to be safe," the woman replies as she tries not to break down._

 _"But mommaaa! I want to stay here with Fleur! Or momma can't I pwease stay with you or…." little Hermione starts crying softly._

 _"Hush, Little Star. You're a bright one, remember last week I told you why you can't stay with either of us and how I can't leave you here with Fleur? I'm sorry, Little Star," the woman hugs and softly soothes her distraught daughter as her heart breaks as she explains to her daughter once again why she can't stay with either of her parents._

 _"You will be alright, Little Star. You won't remember me for a little while but I promise we'll be together again real quick. Me, you and…"she trails off._

 _"Us three momma! Right, momma?" little Hermione says as she finally looks up from being cuddled up to her mother's chest._

 _"Yes, Little Star. Soon it will be us three," the woman replies to her daughter with a sad smile knowing that having the three of them together will take some time._

 _End of flashback._

* * *

"Honey, are you alright?" Helen asks in worry.

"Hm?" Hermione hums in reply as she snaps out of the daze.

"You're crying, Hermione," Derek replies softly in sympathy.

"Oh," says Hermione softly as she takes note of the tears she didn't notice was slowly trailing down her cheeks, "I suddenly remembered my momma."

"I'm sorry you had to miss out on the past six years with her, Hermione," says Helen.

"Yes, my cousin, despite her eccentricity, I'm sure was a good mother," says Derek.

"They both were," Hermione replies with a sad sigh, "No matter. My momma explained this to me. She placed a spell on me to forget her. I'm assuming she did the same with you?"

Her uncle and aunt nods their head in confirmation. As much as their own hearts were clenching in sadness upon having realised that a mother not only had to let her child go to protect but to actually erase herself from the memory of her child to protect her, they knew that their niece was likely suffering more than they do. Even being the intellectual genius that Hermione is, she is still a little girl. And all little girls love their parents dearly.

"I think I should send that reply now, don't you?" Hermione turns to Derek. So Derek once again nods his head in agreement.


	3. Chapter 3: Diagon Alley

**March 19, 2017 (Word count: 9,310)**

 **Disclaimer: I practically own none of these. My name is not J.K. Rowling hence I do not own the wonderful Harry Potter and his universe. I have sourced numerous names and details (characters, books, shop names, etc.) from the books, movies, Pottermore and even the Harry Potter Wikia. There are certain excerpts that I have lifted directly from the books (marked with an asterisk*). Numerous terms from other magical worlds have been borrowed and redefined to fit what I want.**

Onwards.

* * *

 **CHAPTER THREE: DIAGON ALLEY**

 **October 1990, England**

*diiiiiing* *diiiiing*

The doorbell sounds loudly as Lily rings the Granger household. As she hears the lock slowly turning and the door creaks open, Lily mentally prepares herself for the barrage of questions she is likely to receive, as is what she usually faces when she visits the muggleborn households. Lucky for her, she herself is a muggleborn witch, hence she is highly prepared for most of the questions.

"Hello, good day! I'm Lily Potter, I am a professor at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I'm looking for the Grangers. We sent them a letter earlier this month for their daughter. Am I at the correct house?" she introduces herself with a pleasant smile as the door fully opens.

"Oh hello Professor Potter, I'm Helen Granger, you're here to meet with Hermione? We saw your letter and we sent out our reply through that owl you sent but we weren't sure when you were planning to visit us. Anyway, please come in! Let me just call on Hermione. I think she might have been finishing up some work for her Calculus class," Helen replies while ushering Lily inside the house.

"I'm sorry, did I hear you correctly? I must have misheard you but I thought you said Calculus? From what I can recall, Calculus is a course taken by more advanced students and Hermione should be in middle school," Lily asks with her brows scrunched up in confusion. Although she never attended muggle school past middle school, Lily was quite sure that Calculus was beyond what a normal 11 year-old student would study.

"Yes, Professor, Hermione is currently taking up Calculus as she is a child genius. Has been recognized as such for years. I hope that won't be a problem should she choose to enter your school," Helen responds.

"Please, call me Lily, and no of course it wouldn't be a problem, Mrs. Granger. I was just surprised as we have a class called Arithmancy in Hogwarts which is very similar to the different Math subjects that muggles would study in school. However, that is only for NEWT Level students, and if Hermione is currently taking up Calculus, we may have to move her up for some levels in Hogwarts as well. I do hope you choose Hogwarts. Is Hermione looking to studying elsewhere or just continuing her muggle studies?" Lily hurriedly replies.

Lily knew that unlike those who were raised in magical households, particularly those with parents who previously attended Hogwarts themselves, most muggleborn witches and wizards tend to ask for other options outside of Hogwarts despite having sent an affirmative response to the acceptance letter. After all, it was common for muggles to look into various forms of schooling, why shouldn't they apply the same concept in magic school and look for other choices? With that in mind, Lily knew has to make sure that Hogwarts gets this obviously gifted child to join the incoming batch of first years.

'She might even end up in the same house as my Harry,' Lily briefly muses as she considers the woman next to her.

"Feel free to call me Helen, Lily. We were really more of wondering where Hogwarts is located exactly? If it's too far away, we were hoping to look into more magical schools which may be nearer to home. We really wouldn't want Hermione to be too far away from us," Helen replies. Although, of course Derek having attended the same school, they already knew where Hogwarts was located and that it was similar to a boarding school wherein nine months of the year, Hermione would have to stay in the school. Nonetheless, Helen insisted that she play the part of the typical parent who would have a lot of questions when presented one option. Besides, she wanted to have some sort of fun, after all.

"Yes, of course I understand that Helen. Is Mr. Granger in the house? It may be better if I explain everything to the both of you," Lily replies.

"Oh, Derek is out of the house with our son. I think he mentioned something about fixing the store actually. We have our own business you see, but it's mostly dealing with exports," Helen briefly explains. In truth, she knew that Derek was currently out of the country on a new mission. After agreeing to take in Hermione, they had agreed among themselves - his cousin included - that it would be better if Derek somewhat disappeared from the wizarding world. While it would be no problem for Helen to immerse herself solely in the muggle word, she knew that Derek would likely become restless in giving up a world he grew up in. As such, they compromised and as he resigned his position in the Ministry of Magic, he sought employment where discretion was held in the utmost importance. He then ended up working under the employ of Gringotts Wizarding Bank where the goblins did not care that he was disowned from his House. They also did not care that he specifically requested that he not work on accounts that deal with magical humans but rather preferred to work with other magical beings such as Werewolves, Veelas, Goblins, Vampires, and the like. "Hermione! Come down here for a moment please! Professor Lily from the Hogwarts School is here to discuss the letter you received last week!"

"Finally!" Hermione exclaims from her room. Quickly but quietly, Hermione sets aside her books on Calculus and grabs her acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. While her memories have returned about her parents and among those memories included conversations about said school, she was far too young to have discussed other important items about the school.

"Good morning Professor!" Hermione greets Lily as she enters the room despite Lily having her back turned to her. As Lily slowly turns around to face Hermione, she takes the time to observe the young girl who she assumes she will one day meet in a Hogwarts classroom. Having fully faced her, Lily gets a strong feeling of familiarity but shrugs it off, thinking that it was perfectly normal for her to see a similarity in the young muggleborn - she has handled a lot of muggleborns after all. Lily stretches out her hand in greeting, "Nice to meet you, Hermione. I am Lily Potter, I teach the Elemental Magic class in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Your mother tells me that you have received the acceptance letter? I'm sure you have questions and I'm here to explain everything the best I can."

"Yes, I'm really glad you're here, Professor. I have a couple of questions I'd like to ask as the letter wasn't very informative," Hermione replies. "Well to be honest I have dozens of questions but I was hoping you'd give me an overview of the wizarding world as a whole and explain Hogwarts as well?"

"Well, to begin with, you should refer to our world as the magical world rather than the wizarding world since there are many other magical beings part of our world that are not human beings hence we don't call them witches or wizards," Lily responds with a slightly amused smile as her prediction of having to face dozens of questions from the muggleborn was on the spot. "Also, while in general we refer to magical human beings as witches or wizards, we actually have a system of ranking to determine the magical prowess of a person. There are seven levels in our ranking system. First off are the _**Muggles**_ who do not exhibit any magical powers at all. These would be like your mother and father hence why you would be what we call a muggleborn."

"Actually, Professor, Aunt Helen isn't my mum. She's my aunt. So even if they are both muggles, I can do magic so I'm a witch, right? But where did I get my magic? And does that mean Marcus will not have magic like my aunt and uncle or will he be like me and be a muggleborn wizard?" Hermione cuts in through Lily's explanation.

"My apologies, Hermione, I wasn't aware that Helen is your aunt," Lily responds while deciding not to ask about the girl's biological parents. If Helen did not bring it up herself, as a muggleborn herself, Lily knew that likely Helen was the legal guardian of Hermione. As such, the young girl's biological parents were likely deceased and as next of kin, the Grangers likely took in the girl and raised her as their own. "And yes you are a magical being, a witch, if you will. Although as I said, there are ways to determine your magical prowess and rank you accordingly. So far, we do not really have an explanation how muggleborns gain their magic. Some speculate that likely if you can trace your roots back to the old generations, there are likely squibs in your family. _**Squibs**_ are those who have magical parents but have very little to no magical capabilities. They are basically Muggles as well but they do have the ability to see and interact with magical items, destinations, and such. They cannot really do magic themselves, but they can feel or sense magic."

"Oh.. But will Marcus be a wizard too?" Hermione asks again. Since Hermione already remembered the truth about her biological parents and her supposed legal guardians, she was sure that Marcus was indeed a wizard. But of course Lily didn't know that so Hermione figured that she might as well see how Lily would answer her question.

"I'm sorry, who is Marcus again?" Lily asks but turns to address Helen with her question.

"He is my son. He's turning eight later this year actually," Helen replies with a smile thinking about her sweet Marcus.

"I see. And has he displayed any accidental magic? I would say that starting at seven years of age, most magical children would start displaying accidental magic," Lily says.

"Honestly, I'm not quite sure. Even with Hermione here, I never really noticed any strange occurrences that I would describe as accidental magic," Helen responds truthfully and not without a little bit of worry. Now that it was brought up, she had actually never really noticed that Hermione displayed any accidental magic. She wondered if it could do with their bloodline or the like. 'I may have to ask Derek about this," Helen silently muses to herself.

Meanwhile, Hermione thinks back to the things she has been able to do that never seemed to have a logical explanation. They were little things that she never gave much thought to. For example, as an athlete, she has taken to running around the neighborhood. There has a number of times that she would forget to refill her water bottle but during days that she was exceptionally thirsty, her water bottle always seemed to fill automatically, as if it were _magic_. Hermione decides not to speak up in front of Lily, instead perhaps she will bring it up with her aunt and uncle when they have the house to themselves.

"Okay then, it may simply be a case of you not noticing little things that Hermione did or that her magic chose not to manifest itself outwardly in the presence of others. There are many possible explanations for this and this is certainly not the first case wherein a muggleborn did not display any noticeable accidental magic. What's important is that Hogwarts recognized that Hermione is magical and thus was offered a place in the school," Lily replies calmly.

"Did you just say _Hogwarts_ recognized Hermione? You mean the school itself?" Helens asks in slight disbelief and confusion.

"Ahh. I understand you may be a little confused Helen, but rest assured it was Hogwarts herself that recognized Hermione. You see, Hogwarts is somewhat sentient to an extent. The Four Founders infused their magic to Hogwarts Castle before they left us and one of the rooms that have come to existence is what we call the Registry Room. In this room you would find the Book of Admittance. It's a rather thick black book bound by dragon-hide where each magical child who has magical prowess is listed down by the Quill of Acceptance. Eventually, it based from this list that an acceptance letter is sent by the time they reach their 11th birth year," explains Lily. She waits for Helen to nod her understanding before she goes back to her explanation.

"Now as I mentioned, there are seven rankings and I've explained Muggles and Squibs. After Squibs are the _**Wizards or Witches**_. These are those who are able to do magic using a conduit, normally a wand and do charms, curses, transfiguration and the like. Imagine them as your standard magic user. They are then followed by _**Warlocks**_. If you notice at this point we are not gender specific. To be honest, I never quite found out why. But going back, Warlocks are ranked higher than Wizards and Witches as they are not only magically stronger but they tend to be more learned in certain aspects such as dueling and martial magic. Then after Warlocks are _**Sorcerers**_ who are really both magically and physically strong. They take to magic easily and tend to do dual wield wands. And then we have the _**Druids**_. There are very few known Druids. Currently you have our Headmaster. If you noticed from your acceptance letter, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore is a Level 3, Druid. Druids are known to do wordless magic and some wandless magic as well. And finally the _**Mages**_. There are currently no known Mages. The last known Mages were Merlin and Morganna. From my understanding, Muggles are aware of both of them although I think they are considered as part of their myths and legends. Sadly, no one has been able to rise to a Mage status. You see, it's not just about training and practicing. You also have to have the innate talent or magical capability to reach a certain level. That's partly why there are conflicts about purity of blood and all be told, your magical ranking is not something you should advertise since although you may end up impressing others, it also exposes you to people possibly identifying your weakness. But let's not worry about that now. Are you both following me so far?" Lily finishes.

"Yes," both Grangers answers in the affirmative. "Is there anything else we should know?" Helen continues.

"Well, you should also know that within those seven rankings, well at least from wizards and up, you are still ranked into three levels before rising to the next rank. Also, eventually you'll come to realize that most magicals have certain specialties. These are ranked too but as you're only starting Hogwarts, there really is no need to worry about this yet," Lily replies smiling kindly down at Hermione. "For now we should proceed to Diagon Alley where we can get all your school items. Shall we?"

"Actually, Professor, I would also still like to know about other schools. In all honesty, I also received a letter from another school called Beauxbatons Academy of Magic," Hermione says. "It had a similar list of required items and I was wondering what the difference in curriculum is and where both schools are located."

With this, Lily momentarily remains speechless. While she had encountered multiple muggleborns enquiring about alternative schooling, she had never had one who was actually invited to attend another school beside Hogwarts. Blinking owlishly, Lily turns to address both Grangers, "Beauxbatons curriculum is very similar to Hogwarts actually as all magical schools' curriculums need to be approved by the International Federation of Schools. The difference in booklist is more because of the preference of the professors rather than a difference in curriculum. Was Hermione born in France perchance? Beauxbatons is actually located in France, people says somewhere in the Pyreness but the exact location has been highly protected by its students and faculty. Usually magical beings are listed down for schools based on a number of factors. It could be based on where they are born, their nationality, their parents alma mater, or even simply because magic chooses it to be so."

"Ahh. I could not be sure. I could check her birth certificate but to be frank I'm not too keen to sending Hermione off to France. But Hogwarts is where exactly?" Helen responds.

"Hogwarts is in Scotland and can be reached by train." Lily replies with a smile. "Are there other concerns?"

Truth be told, Hermione would have preferred going to Beauxbatons as she quite clearly remembers her childhood best friend, _Fleur_. But alas, she recalls the bedtime stories of her parents going to Hogwarts and that they were excited for her to attend the same school. Given this, Hermione shrugs in reply and turns to her aunt. "I don't have other questions for now, Aunt. How about you?"

Helen turns to Lily and says, "I don't have any pressing concerns at the moment other than to know where this Diagon Alley is and how do we get there?"

At this, Lily grins widely and takes out a small piece of ribbon from her pocket.

* * *

 **Charing Cross Road, London**

"Ooof!" Hermione and Helen stumble slightly as the three ladies suddenly appear just off Charing Cross Road, London where a pub called the Leaky Cauldron was well known among British Magicals.

"Jesus that's useful! What's that again?" Helens asks Lily as she helps Hermione steady herself.

"We're here!" exclaims Lily happily pointing to the Leaky Cauldron. "We used a Portkey to get here and now we have to pass through the back side of Leaky Cauldron so we can enter the major shopping district here in Britain."

"Sorry, where exactly is here?" asks Helen while squinting at the direction where Lily was pointing at. As a muggle, she was aware that there may be items she cannot use and places she cannot see that only beings that are able to do magic can use and see. Looking towards where Lily was pointing, Helen could only see what appeared to be an abandoned building with old police lines that was likely placed there ages ago during a crime of some sort.

"Apologies Helen, I forgot to give you these. Here wear this," Lily apologizes as she hands a necklace with a single pendant to the other woman. "This is a charm that is meant to allow muggles to see places that are supposed to be hidden from muggles. It basically negates the anti-muggle wards placed in a location. The only other way for you to see warded locations would have been to maintain skin contact with a magical being."

Pushing the door to the bar open, Lily ushers both Grangers in and solidly shuts the door behind them. The Leaky Cauldron was nothing special and certainly not what one would describe as pleasing to the eye. Still it was quite popular and frequented by most magicals, and not just to get to Diagon Alley behind it.

By the bar stood the bartender called Tom. Tom was quite bald and would remind you of a toothless walrus if nothing else. Nonetheless, he was a pleasant enough host and nodded in greeting towards Lily and the Grangers. He was familiar and used to Lily coming by bringing muggleborns through his store by now. The three ladies nod back in greeting but doesn't waste time to dart across the pub to reach the backdoor entrance.

Upon exiting the dingy pub, Hermione found herself facing a rather tall brick wall. As she was about to ask if there was a door somewhere, she noted that Lily had already brought out her wand and was muttering under her breath.

"Let's see.. hmm.. three up.. two across.. Right, got that. Here we are Hermione!" Lily cheerfully calls out as she taps the wall three times with her wand. Seemingly tapping specific bricks above an ordinary trash can. As her wands taps the third brick, there was a slight shaking as the bricks were suddenly moving to form an entryway. In a matter of seconds, a large archway appeared where the wall was, large enough to let a truck go through. "Welcome to Diagon Alley, Hermione!"

Although Hermione could remember having gone to strange shops back when she was younger and staying at France, she could not remember having visited Diagon Alley before. Hence, she stared in awe at the large archway before taking a few steps forward to focus on the cobblestoned street which seemed to twist and turn to many directions. Peeking over her shoulder, Hermione noted that the archway was rapidly closing off hence cutting off her view of the Leaky Cauldron.

Looking to her left, Hermione saw what she thought was a whistling kettle that was whistling tunes she did not recognize along with a brass candle holder with what appears to be one of those electronic candle whose light was flickering on and off. 'Strange,' Hermione muses as she spots the sign over the shop which read _Cranville Quincey's Magical Junkshop_.

A little further down, Hermione could spot a stack of cauldrons displayed by the window of a shop with a sign over the doorway that says _Potage's Cauldron Shop_ and in even smaller print, _Cauldrons - All Sizes - Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver - Self-Stirring - Collapsible_. She briefly wondered how a cauldron could be collapsible but she figured her future professor would likely be able to explain it to her when the time comes. Meanwhile, towards her left, Hermione saw what appeared to be a pet shop of sorts but all she could see displayed in the windows were owls. Squinting at the small sign by the door, she read _Eeloyps Owl Emporium - Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown and Snowy_.

"Hermione, c'mon now, we need to go straight ahead to the bank," Lily calls out from a few stores ahead. While Hermione has been busy looking at the shops closest to her, Lily and Helen had started walking down the path towards the bank.

Looking towards Lily and Helen, Hermione notices that they are walking towards the direction of a startlingly tall white building with bronze doors that loomed over the other shops in Diagon Alley. In great big bold golden letters (and to be honest she had the inkling that the sign might be made of actual gold), read the sign _Gringgot's Wizarding Bank_. Walking faster to catch up to Lily and Helen, Hermione decides that she will take the time to look at all the other shops after they've gone to the bank.

Upon reaching the bank, she notices what appears to be a guard standing by the great bronze doors. Standing roughly 4 feet tall, dressed in a uniform of scarlet and gold, and armed with what appears to be a spear, what Hermione found striking was that the guard did not appear to be human. The guard had pointed ears, a beard, quite long fingers and feet, and had rough skin which seemed to be an unusual shade of peach.

"Gringgot's is run by Goblins. They are mighty warriors and quite amazing with money, if nothing else. But I have to warn you that they can be ruthless. Sadly they are considered as magical creatures rather than the magical beings that they should be recognized as. They are sentient, much like us, and we trust our money with them! You'd think the Ministry would find this as reason enough to consider them as our equals," Lily explains quietly but not without passion to both Hermione and Helen.

Helen seems bothered upon hearing this, especially since she has not heard such complaints from Derek who has been working with the goblins for the past years. On the other hand, Hermione simply nods as she remembers stories that her mother has told her as a child and so she understands that there are still a lot of conflict in the magical world when it comes to rights and equality. Moving forward, they are met with yet another set of doors, albeit this one was smaller and made of silver. On the door, one could see engraved words that were hard to miss:

 _Enter, stranger, but take heed_

 _Of what awaits the sin of greed,_

 _For those who take, but do not earn,_

 _Must pay most dearly in their turn,_

 _So if you seek beneath our floors_

 _A treasure that was never yours,_

 _Thief you have been warned, beware_

 _Of finding more than treasure there*._

"That seems to be quite ominous and harsh. What exactly do they have down there besides gold?" Helen asks.

"I'd reckon all sorts of dark creatures. At the very least a dragon," Lily replies nonchalantly. "Right then, let's go on inside."

Walking straight to one of the assistance desks, Lily proceeds to greet the goblin acting as a bank teller. "Greetings teller! We're to exchange some pounds to galleons and perhaps open up an account."

The goblin looks up to Lily, eyeing her critically. "And this account is for whom?"

"That would be for the Grangers behind me," Lily replies, maintaining her pleasant attitude towards the goblin as she simultaneously gestures towards and motions for Helen and Hermione to approach the teller.

The goblin teller looks up to see Helen and Hermione and with a tilt of his head says, "Indeed. Well human, money is personal business. I shall talk to the Grangers alone now," in obvious dismissal of Lily.

Although Lily thought this to be peculiar for a simple conversion transaction, she was also quite used to the strict demands of goblins when it comes to their money and so tilts her head in acknowledgement and turns to the Grangers. "I'll meet you both outside. I also have some matters to attend to while I'm here. I'm thinking in about half an hour or so?" Upon seeing Helen nod, Lily rushes out of the bank to attend to other important matters.

As Lily finally left, Helen turns to the teller and formally greets him, "Greetings Goblin Teller. May your gold flow freely as your enemies fall."

The goblin is startled but quick to reply, "And may your family thrive as your gold grows in number." The goblin takes a moment to observe the Grangers who he initially assumed to be a muggle and muggleborn who were both stepping foot in Gringgot's for the first time. "I am glad that some magical humans are still familiar with our greeting. I am Bank Teller Bogord. How may I help you today?"

"Good day, Bank Teller Bogord. I am Helen Granger, and beside me is my niece. I am not magical rather I am a muggle and my niece here is thought to be a muggleborn, but I assure you is not. Further, I believe you know of my husband as he works under the employ of your bank. You may know him from his legal name but his pseudo name is Derek Granger," Helen replies curtly.

"So Lady Granger, you are not here for conversion then? Distorter Granger has his own vault here and I assume you have the key and was given access?"

"While I do not need conversion of muggle money as I do have the key and access to my husband's vault, I would appreciate to know how the money conversion and system works, Bank Teller Bogord. Also, my niece's parents likely left her a trust vault, she would like to gain access to this. If I am not mistaken, blood may be drawn to prove her claim," replies Helen.

Bank Teller Bogord brings out three coins and places it in front of him. "One golden galleon is made of seventeen silver sickles. One silver sickle is made of twenty-nine bronze knuts," he explains as he points to each type of coin. "Also, 50 pounds equals to one galleon. Now for your Young Lady Granger's trust vault, please follow me to the Inheritance Room to check if she has a claim to any of the vaults."

Having gotten a purse full of galleons and proving her lineage, Hermione happily exits Gringgot's with Helen. Together they head for Lily who was sitting outside _Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour_ a few shops outside of Gringgot's. Upon reaching her, Hermione notes that there is a small boy sitting next to Lily who appeared to be more or less her age eating a large ice cream cone.

"Hello! How did you do in there? I hope the goblins didn't give you a hard time?" Lily asks in slight worry. She knew that goblins can be quite intense and intimidating, especially if it's the first you interact with them.

"No need to worry, Lily, we're fine and we got money right here," Helen reassures Lilly and pat her purse to further indicate that they were able to get money from Gringgot's. "Now who is this strapping young lad?"

The boy looks up upon hearing the query and smiles shyly at two ladies. As Lily gently prods the young boy, he proceeds to stand up and greet them, "Hello, ma'am. I'm Harry! It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Harry here is my son. I hope you don't mind that he will be joining us for the rest of the trip. My husband came by and dropped him off with me since there was an emergency he needed to attend to," Lily says.

Helen waves off Lily's concern and chuckles at the young boy's shy greeting, "Hello there Harry. I'm Helen and this here is my niece, Hermione."

"Hello Harry, nice to meet you," Hermione says as she extends her hand to Harry. "I'm going to Hogwarts next September. How about you?"

"Oh, me too! Are you here to get your school supplies? Isn't it a little early? Are you even 11 yet?" Harry shoots of questions rapidly, seemingly losing his shyness quickly upon hearing about Hogwarts.

"Yes, I got my letter last month. Apparently I missed the cut-off mark since my birthday is on September 19, so I'm off by a few weeks. I'm told I would be one of the older ones in our batch. How about you? When will you get your letter?" Hermione replies and asks her own questions.

"I'm turning 11 next July!" Harry replies excitedly. "I can't wait to turn 11 and get my own wand! I'm hoping my mum lets me get my own broomstick though since I really want to start training to join the Quidditch team. I'm sure my dad would support me but my mum worries."

"Quidditch?"

"Oh yeah, you're a muggleborn, right? Sorry forgot you don't have that. It's one of the wizarding sports we have! You have three types of balls - the Quaffle, two Bludgers and the Golden Snitch. It's all exciting but you should read _Quidditch Through the Ages_ so that you can get a detailed explanation. Mum is calling for us so I can't really explain it now." Harry says in apology.

"C'mon you two! We need to get going!"

"Coming mum! C'mon Hermione we should catch up to them!" Harry laughs as he runs after his mother with Hermione not far behind him.

"So you got all your books then?"

"Yes, Aunt Helen. I've gotten all eight required books and I hope you don't mind but I grabbed _Quidditch Through the Ages_ , _Hogwarts: A History_ , and _Curses and Counter-Curses_ as well."

"That's no problem, Hermione. I knew you would grab a few extra books, as you always do," Helen replies with amusement to her niece. While Hermione would always be a little bookworm, Helen was glad that her niece seemed to still hold an interest in sports, evidenced by the Quidditch book the young girl was clutching among her school books. Taking a look at the list of books and equipment sent by Hogwarts, Helen notes that Hermione has already gotten everything she needed except for her uniform, wand, and possibly a pet. "So shall we get your robes next, then?"

"It's this way, Helen," Lily leads them down the cobblestoned path towards a rather large store named M _adam Milkin's Robes for All Occasions_. The store was not overly large in the inside but was spacious enough to accommodate the racks of robes that were on display. The robes were of various cuts and colors and some even looked to be randomly changing colors. Madam Milkin was a stout woman who seemed nice enough and was quick with her work. After measuring Hermione for her work clothes and cloak, she proceeded to try out some of the hats and gloves.

* * *

Half an hour later, the foursome was strolling down the street once again and this time heading to what Harry called the second-most exciting store ("Of course getting your wand for the first time is all sorts of exciting but _Quality Quidditch Supplies_ will always be the best, Hermione!").

A seemingly abandoned store with single wand on display by the window, a sign hung by the door stating that they were at _Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C._ And as if to make sure you really were aware where you are, gold letters spelling out Ollivander's were written across the door.

"Actually, Helen, getting your first wand is sort of a sacred passage for all witches and wizards. See the wands chooses its wielder and often it is only done with the wand maker and the potential wand wielder in the room. It's best we let Hermione do this alone. About seven galleons is enough to cover the cost for a brand new wand," Lily gently explains. "And you also already know this Harry James so don't you dare start complaining now."

Helen nods her consent and hands the entire purse to her niece. "Go ahead, Hermione. We'll be waiting for you outside. Take your time though."

Hermione hears the ringing of a small bell upon entering the shop, although looking up she can't find a bell attached to the door. Shrugging it off as another daily magical occurrence, Hermione proceeds to the counter where she hovers slightly before calling out with an uncertain, "Hello?"

"Ah hello, deary, how can I help you? Here for your first wand, I assume?" an elderly looking man says as he comes out from the back room.

"Yes, sir. My name's Hermione Granger and my Aunt Helen and Professor Lily are both waiting outside. Lily said that I should do this on my own."

The elderly man nods in the affirmative and continues to introduce himself, "I'm Ollivander, the owner of this humble shop. I made every single one of these wands," indicated to a large part of the room. "And these other ones were made by my father and his father before him. Now let's see which one of these are yours, okay? Please stretch out your wand arm for me?"

"Sorry, my wand arm?"

"This would be your dominant hand my dear. Likely your hand which you use to write with."

"Oh. Well, sir, I happen to be an ambidextrous."

"Why that's splendid, my girl! Here, here. Try this one then," Ollivander says as he plucks a box out of the shelf and thrusts the wand towards her. "Twelve inches, unicorn tail hair, cedar, fairly stiff. Give it a wave!"

Not without some skepticism on how the wand maker decided that this specific wand might fit her, Hermione gave the wand a quick wave.

And nothing happened.

Just as she was about to wave it again, Ollivander snaps it away from her with a light chuckle. "I guess not that one, Ms. Granger. How about this one? Ten inches, unicorn tail hair, cherry, this is nice and supple."

"No? Perhaps this is better, twelve and three-quarter inches, willow, dragon heartstring."

"Hmm. No, no, that doesn't seem quite right, now does it?"

Having reached a dozen boxes of wands, in the past half hour, Hermione was starting to feel restless and wondering that maybe she would not be getting her wand today. 'Will he ask me to come back instead?" she silently wonders to herself. Sitting down, she notes as Ollivander was going through yet another shelf, with seemingly no known method as to how he was deciding which wand to offer her to try. 'Lily did say this is sort of sacred a rite of passage and Aunt Helen said to take my time, so I suppose I'll be staying here until I get a wand. Any wand, if I'm lucky. Maybe if my parents were here, this would be faster.."

"Aha! Here you go, Ms Granger. I think this might just do fine with you," Ollivander suddenly exclaims as he emerges from one of the shelves and hands her yet another wand. "Dragon heartstring core, vine, ten and three-quarter inches long, flexible. Give it a swish."

As Hermione gave it a swift flick, the wand produced a multitude of golden sparks and she could not help but feel the warmth in her hand. She smiled and turned to Ollivander who was smiling as well. "I think this is it."

"Splendid, Ms Granger! I knew we just had to be a little patient. Although it is peculiar that this wand did not make itself known earlier than now," says Ollivander.

"How so, Mr. Ollivander?" asks Hermione.

"Well, I suppose that sometimes these things take time for as we always say, the wand chooses you and not the other way around. But vine wood usually are more sensitive in identifying their prospective matches. But never mind that, Ms. Granger. What's important is that the wand did choose you. Now, would you like me to wrap this up for you? Do you need anything else? The wand will be seven galleons, Ms Granger," replies Ollivander.

Just as Hermione was about to inquire about other products that Oliivander may have, a dusty and rather torn up box in one of the shelves caught her attention. The box itself was nothing of note, but the fact that it seemed to be slightly vibrating gave it the appearance of restlessness, much like herself a few moments ago. Looking over her shoulder, Ollivander was stowing away the other boxes of wands she tried earlier. Hence, she shrugs and silently heads over to the shelf with the restless box. As she was finally within reach of the shelf, the box suddenly flew straight to her and with quick reflexes, she caught the box with a soft "Ohh."

Upon hearing her soft exclamation, Ollivander turns towards her and sees the box in her hand. "Goodness dear, please do not randomly pluck out the wands as some can be very temperamental if they want to be," he softly chides the young girl. As he reaches out to take the box back from her, the box suddenly bursts open and the wand vibrates noticeably, as if excited. His eyes widening slightly in surprise upon seeing the wand inside and that it appears to actually have chosen to present itself to the young girl, he looks up to the girl and says in quiet reverence, "My apologies, Ms. Granger. It seems that the wand wanted you. Please go ahead and take it."

Still a little surprised herself, Hermione grasps the wand with her left hand and once again feels warmth encompassing her as the wand shone brightly, filling the room with light.

"Fifteen inches, aspen and ebony, thunderbird and thestral hair. This was one of the last specialty wands created by my father, Gervaise Ollivander, before he passed. Aspen is thought to be partial to dueling and martial magic. It is a wand for revolutionaries Ms Granger. And Ebony is ideal for combative magic and transfiguration, it is highly suitable for those that hold strong to their beliefs. Your other wand, has vine wood which seeks those who search for a greater purpose in life and often has visions beyond the ordinary. That alone, even without considering your wand cores tells me that you are destined for greatness, Ms. Granger. A difficult path for one so young. But I wish you the best, young one. It is best, Ms Granger, that you do not disclose your possession of two wands, as it is not common among magicals, much less an 11 year-old girl to possess more than one wands, much less a wand as powerful as yours. That will be fourteen galleons for both wands. Though you may consider some wand holsters as well. They range from fifteen sickles each to about two galleons each depending on what type you prefer."

Exiting Olivander's with her two wands and two holsters - one pair which was stealthily hidden along her left arm as she preferred to present her right arm as her dominant side, Hermione spots her Aunt and the others once again sitting outside _Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour_ as it seems that Harry was able to charm his way to another scoop of ice cream. As she headed towards their direction a loud blast suddenly throws her off balance. Swiftly regaining her balance, she looks around to see numerous people in long flowing black robes with white masks covering their faces firing off spells in all directions.

 _Petrificus Totalus_!

 _Reducto! Reducto_!

 _Confringo_!

 _Impedimenta_!

 _Reducto_! _Bombarda_!

Making sure to stay out of the ongoing battle. Hermione takes a full sweep to take in the various people present in the alley. She notices two older women who were just exiting the store next door. One of the women was rather tall and had light brown curly hair and had the air of kindness around her. On the other hand, the woman next to her, although seemingly older than the other woman given the way she carried herself, looked remarkably well with her long ebony locks and lean stature. Catching the eye of the dark-haired woman, Hermione offers a brief smile unsurely.

As quickly as the moment came, the moment passed as the two women entered the fray, snapping their own spells towards the group of masked attackers.

 _Stupefy_!

 _Incarcerous_!

 _Stupefy_! _Stupefy_! _Petrificus_ _Totalus_!

 _Protego_! _Diffindo_!

Interestingly enough, the dark-haired woman appeared to soon be firing off spells in rapid succession, _wordlessly_. Hermione could only watch in awe as the implication of this dawns on her.

Suddenly though, the same woman calls out in a loud voice " _Expecto Patronum_!" And a silvery cat shoots out from her wand and struts away, seemingly in search of something. A few minutes after the silvery cat bounded off, numerous pops could be heard coupled with the shouts of "Law Enforcement! Cease!"

After their arrival, in a short period of time, the battle ceased as some of the white masked attackers were bound and taken into custody but sadly, most got away. 'What a useful way to get away,' Hermione muses as she takes into consideration how most of the attackers just popped away. Seeing that the battle seemed truly over and other people were now coming out once again, Hermione walks out to the open street in search of her Aunt and the others. Upon reaching them, she catches the end of what appeared to be a serious conversation between her Aunt and Lily.

"…I assure you Helen, we have a lot of Magical Law Enforcers who are meant to protect everyone from these attacks. I admit we have a rising number of so-called magical gangs who are the perpetrators of such attacks but Hermione will be at Hogwarts, easily safer than even the Ministry of Magic."

"Oh Hermione, thank goodness you're safe! Did you get your wand, sweetie?" Helen asks her niece upon spotting her.

"Yes, Aunt. It took some time but I saw the beginning of the attack out here. I stayed over there for cover," Hermione responds while pointing out a corner near the wand maker's store.

"Minerva! Andy! I didn't know you were going to be here!" Lily suddenly calls out to the women. "I saw you exit one of the shops earlier, were you shopping? This is certainly a pleasant surprise, although I suppose circumstances could have been better," Lily gestures briefly towards the mess that was currently being fixed by not only the Law Enforcers but the shopkeepers as well.

"Hello, Lily," Andromeda greets Lily with a hug as Minerva smiles at her warmly in greeting.

"I have Harry here with me and this here is Helen and Hermione Granger," Lily introduces the two Grangers as she notices that Hermione has once again joined their party.

"Nice to meet you Minerva and Andy," Helen says in reply.

"Hello. It's nice to make your acquaintance, ma'am," Hermione smiles at both women, albeit a little sadly if one was to take careful note.

"Hermione here just got her Hogwarts letter last month and we are picking up her supplies. In fact, she just got her wand! You did get your wand, right Hermione?" Lily asks but without waiting for the young girl's reply, she continues on. "Andy and Minerva here are part-time professors at Hogwarts, so you might end up taking their class one day. Andy teaches Magical Art but this is for 6th and 7th years only. Same with Minerva who teaches Metamorphosis as well as Conjuration and Untransfiguration. Oh, and if you end up joining one of the clubs, they might also end up as your mentor or something similar. You would be lucky to train under anyone of them of course. Andromeda Tonks and Minerva McGonagall are brilliant! Actually, Minerva works in the Ministry of Magic Law Enforcement and I'm sure you're higher than a Senior Auror. What are you now, a Hit Wizard? An Unspeakable? Or maybe even a Battle Warrior?"

"Hush you. We musn't speak of such things out in the open. But definitely higher than a Senior Auror, Lily. Must you ask?" Minerva replies with a slight smirk. "Regardless, we really must be going Andy. We have been delayed enough as it is. Remember that Nymphadora is coming home for dinner today."

"Oh shoot, I forgot! Thank Merlin you reminded me, Min. C'mon let's go! It was really nice meeting you both," Andromeda says her goodbyes as she rushes outside mumbling about what to prepare for dinner.

Minerva chuckles lowly at Andy's antics and she turns to the others. "It was truly a pleasant surprise to run into _all of you_ here despite those Death Eaters causing mayhem once again. I hope we meet again soon." Minerva then reaches out to shake hands with Helen and Hermione and as she takes Hermione's hand, she leans over slightly and whispers, "And I'm sure your momma would be proud of you getting your first wand, my dear."

Leaning back, Minerva turns and strides away but not before calling over her shoulder, "And be sure to visit the _Magical Menagerie_ , Hermione. I'm sure you'll find a lovely pet there!"

Making sure to keep her smile small, Hermione calls out in reply, "We'll make sure to drop by there, ma'am. It was nice meeting you, have a nice day!" Turning around, she grins up to Lily and Helen. "Can we go please?"

* * *

The first thing that Hermione noticed upon entering _Magical Menagerie_ was that it was eerily quiet for a pet shop and had no lingering smell like what she was used to in muggle pet shops. Intrigued but happy that the shop wasn't loud and had no unpleasant smell, Hermione proceeded to take note of the various animals. Meanwhile, Lily and Helen go straight for the counter while Harry joined Hermione in examining the different creatures.

"You know, most first years get an owl, Hermione," Harry points out. "That's why most just go to _Eeloyps Owl Emporium_ in the other side of Diagon Alley. I've actually personally been asking my mum to get me the snowy white owl in display for ages."

Looking up from a cage full of Pygmy Puffs, Hermione turns to observe a Giant Orange Snail and a Giant Purple Toad before giving her attention to the young boy. "Well, Harry, if I had wanted an owl, I would have gone there, now wouldn't I?"

"Yes well, you do realize first years are only technically allowed to bring an owl, cat or toad right?" Harry persists.

Of course, I am! I read the letter, Harry," Hermione retorts in slight indignation. "But it also said that Ministry-registered familiars are allowed and didn't you hear Professor Minerva earlier? She said to get a pet from _here_."

"I'm sure she meant it as a suggestion, Hermione. You're still allowed to look at Eeloyps. But anyway, what about a cat huh? They have a Black Cat, a Siamese Cat, a White Cat, a Tabby Cat… oooh maybe you want a Kneazle or maybe a Niffler?" Harry excitedly points out to each pet in suggestion.

Hermione takes a look at said suggestions but does not find any of the pets interesting. 'I wonder if I should actually go to Eeloyps instead? But she said to find a pet here. I'm sure I can find one that I like here,' thinks Hermione.

"Look Hermione! Here's a Puffskein and a Fire Crab!"

Ignoring the excitable young boy, Hermione takes her time to brows the different cages and glass cases until she happens upon a small cage in the corner. As she peeks in, bright eyes meet her gaze. A small leopard-like cub was sitting in the furthest corner of the cage. It was yellow with black spots and had a short fluffy tail, evidence of its youth.

For a moment Hermione is captivated by the small creature and she stares intently at it.

"Oh hey you found a Nundu! Be careful those are highly dangerous creatures. They're rated as XXXXX Beasts by the Ministry! What's it doing here in a pet shop?" Harry suddenly exclaims next to her. "Muuuum! Look what Hermione found!"

"Oh goodness. What's a Nundu cub doing here? Step back Harry, Hermione, the breath of a Nundu is highly toxic!"

"He was saved from some poachers, ma'am. We're not actually selling him as we are set to release him to the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures so that they can find him an appropriate home. I'm not sure if you're familiar with this but despite being an XXXXX Beast, Nundus have become quite rare in the magical world and so are supposed to be generally left alone. As it is, there's just been a bit of a hang up so we haven't gotten to release his forms to the Ministry," replies the shopkeeper. "Hmm, he seems quite taken with you though, doesn't he? He's very very young. We estimated him to be only a month old, hence why were even able to keep him here for as long as we have."

As the others turn to observe the Nundu cub, they notice that he has approached the bar and was softly sniffing the hand of Hermione from a breadth away as the young girl reached out in the hopes of petting the cub.

"Nundus are not friendly, even as a cub. He might have found a special connection with you or maybe he is meant to be your familiar?" Lily observes.

"That can be easily found out, ma'am. If you allow me?" the shopkeeper asks. While normally owner-familiar bonds are recognized upon touch, Nundus were said to be very temperamental when touched, even as young cubs. It wouldn't do to have a young girl mauled by a Nundu cub in his shop hence the shopkeeper decided to do the standard spells to reveal the familiar bond. "Well, it seems they do have the familiar bond. Interesting, there are very few cases wherein Nundus form a familiar bond with a magical being. Now, since you apparently have the familiar bond with him I suppose we won't be releasing him to the Ministry after all. You won't have to pay for him since he was never really for sale to begin with. You really must have a strong connection with magical creatures in general though. The shop is awfully quiet now that I think about it. Anyway, you may want to buy him some food and other items. Also, you'll have to be the one to go to the Ministry and register him as your familiar and do please let me write a letter quickly to explain the circumstances and so that they know I have legally released possession of the cub to you."

"Oh how wonderful!" Hermione exclaims happily. "Does this mean I can touch him now?"

"Yes, go ahead young lady. You are meant to be a pair after all," the shopkeeper responds in slight amusement.

"Aunt Helen, Lily, Harry look! He's so nice isn't he? I shall call him Crookshanks!"

"Well c'mon then. We need to get Crookshanks some food and we better head to the Ministry before they close up," Lily replies as she and Helen follows the shopkeeper to get some much needed pet supplies.

"Wow Hermione. No wonder you wanted to come here. You really don't want an owl, toad or cat didn't you?" Harry laughs as he watches Hermione stroke Crookshanks. Admittedly, Crookshanks looked very adorable but growing up in the magical world and knowing that said cub was classified as an XXXXX Beast was enough to give Harry some second thought in approaching Hermione's familiar. 'I think I'll give him some time to get used to Hermione and humans in general first.'

"Hermione! Harry! We need to go now!"

Smiling softly to herself for a productive day, Hermione hums softly in happiness as she follows Lily, Helen, and Harry out the shop to go to the Ministry. She wonders how next September will be like once she finally enters Hogwarts. It's almost a year away though so Hermione knew she had a lot of time to read up on what to expect. Happily, Hermione thinks that perhaps she should read _Hogwarts: A History_ first but then shrugs off the thought and decides, 'I should probably read _Quidditch Through the Ages_ first so I can discuss it with Harry.'


	4. Chapter 4: Pre-Hogwarts

**July 03, 2017 (Word count: 5,680)**

 **A/N** **: Conversation amongst Beauxbaton students are** _ **italicized**_ **to show that they are talking to each other in French since I don't want to murder the language. I will likely only use short phrases when they speak English to show frequently used French phrases.**

 **Btw, given the ranking I've described in the previous chapter, I've decided to stick with the term "magicals or magical humans" instead of wizards or witches given I've used the latter as the first ranking above squibs.**

 **I'm inconsistent with the length of each chapter. What can I say? I write what I can, when I can, when inspiration strikes me.**

 **Disclaimer** **: I practically own none of these. My name is not J.K. Rowling hence I do not own the wonderful Harry Potter and his universe. I have sourced numerous names and details (characters, books, shop names, etc.) from the books, movies, Pottermore and even the Harry Potter Wikia. There are certain excerpts that I have lifted directly from the books (marked with an asterisk*). Numerous terms from other magical worlds have been borrowed and redefined to fit what I want.**

Onwards.

* * *

 **CHAPTER FOUR: PRE-HOGWARTS**

 **September 1990, France (Beauxbaton)**

" _Fleur? Fleur?_ "

" _Fleuuur!_ "

Suddenly jerking out a trance-like state, the 13 year-old blonde girl shakes her head briefly before turning towards her friends who were calling for her attention. " _Yes, Adrienne? Felicity? What is it?_ "

" _You were telling us about the trouble Gabrielle caused you both over the break when you suddenly became quiet Fleur. It's been at least 3 minutes without you speaking. Are you okay?_ " Adrienne replied while sharing worried looks with Felicity. Although Fleur was actually quite prone to suddenly drifting off with her thoughts, she would never suddenly stop her stories abruptly and space out. Taking a look closer at Fleur, Adrienne noted that the blonde girl still seemed a little glassy eyed despite having finally responded to them.

Fleur shook her head again as she tried to get rid of the cloud of confusion in her mind having suddenly spaced out unexpectedly. Trying to recall what story she was sharing with her friends, she ended up furrowing her brows further as she realized that not only can she not clearly recall the said story, she also could not remember why she drifted off in the first place.

" _I am sorry Adrienne and Felicity. I don't really know what came over me. I think I need to lie down. I'm not feeling very well_ ," Fleur apologizes with a noncommittal shrug. Having said that, Fleur stands up and begins to walk towards their shared dormitory.

Laying down on her bed in the far corner of the room, Fleur stares up at the ceiling quietly musing over what happened. ' _So strange, I suddenly feel.. more. More awake. More aware. More_ _ **alive**_ _. Like I'm more me. Perhaps this is the start of the Awakening Stage grandmère and maman has always been saying would likely happen soon. I wish I had paid more attention,_ ' she thought with a silent huff. Truth be told, shortly after turning 7 years old, Fleur had always had a certain empty feeling in her. While at first that caused the young child much distress and led to her becoming quite an introverted child.

It wasn't until two years later when her younger sister Gabrielle was born that Fleur finally started acting like the happy child she was. Strangely enough, whenever the topic of her personality changes during her childhood was brought up, her maman and grandmere always seemed to share long knowing looks with one another. However when asked, both of them would never share their thoughts and always more or less replied with " _The Veela is strong within you, young one. One day you will see. One day you will understand._ " As such, Fleur stopped asking after about the 6th or 7th time since she figured they wouldn't tell her more till she was much older. Instead, she ended up becoming fascinated with her heritage and continuously asked to learn more about her inner Veela.

From the age of nine until the age of 11 before finally attending Beauxbaton, her grandmere had educated Fleur on the ways of the Delacour Clan. She learned how not all of her family members exhibited a strong sense of oneness with their Veela. She learned that although they may refer to their "inner Veela", they were one and the same with their inner self. In fact, there was no such thing as half or quarter Veela. It was either you had the inner Veela or you didn't.

She was taught not to confuse the Veela as a separate being within herself as _**she herself is a Veela**_. As a little girl who has not undergone what her Veela sisters described as the Awakening Stage which leads up to her Veela's maturity at age 17, it was hard for her to fully grasp the concept. Similarly, although other magical creatures are able to understand what it means to be Veela, most other magical (humans) still struggle to understand this. Hence, there lies the problem. A lack of understanding has led to other so-called pureblood magicals to declare Veelas as magical creatures who are beneath magical humans.

Fortunately, this is not a very common view amongst magical humans in France. Although there are still some magicals with strong political ties who are consistently trying to push for laws that are meant to "put filthy hybrids in their place" as they say.

" _Fleur, you have been laying there for hours. It is time for dinner, c'mon let's go!_ " Adrienne says as she suddenly enters the room. Startled from her thoughts, Fleur accidentally knocks over a small chest from her bedside table. " _Hurry up! You better not miss dinner. You know that Madame Maxime will end up looking for you_ ," the young girl continues before slowly turning around and exiting the room once again.

Sighing softly, Fleur rises up from her bed and bends over to pick up the chest that had fallen over. As she went to pick it up, she notices that a piece of cloth had fallen out of the chest. Carefully plucking the item off the ground, Fleur stares at the piece of cloth before recognizing that the cloth is actually an old scarf - an old black and red striped scarf that seems awfully familiar.

* * *

 _Flashback to six years ago (September 1984, France)_

 _"'Fleur, pwease come play?" a raven-haired 5 year-old little girl pleaded. A little girl with a cozy black and gold striped scarf wrapped around her neck, helping keep her slightly bushy mane in place given the windy weather._

 _"Mia, maman said we 'ave to eat lunch soon so we can't play for too long," the older blonde responded with a slight smile as she takes the hand of little Hermione._

 _"Okay, Fleur! So we play now?" the eager little Hermione smiled cutely up to her playmate, showing her dimples. Flashing back a toothy white smile to the smaller girl, Fleur nods and, with a sudden leap, tags little Hermione and shouts out "Tag! You're it Miaaa! Come on and catch me!" as she runs swiftly away from the little girl._

 _"Awww Fleur! No faiiiir! You cheateds!" little Hermione shouts out with slight huff and stomping her feet. Nonetheless, as little Fleur laughs and shouts out "C'mon and catch me if you can!" Little Hermione laughs as well and starts to run after the other girl._

 _After running around for some time, little Fleur finally slows down enough to let her playmate catch her as the other little girl was obviously becoming tired trying to catch the definitely faster and more energized 7-year old. Huffing and laughing, little Hermione tackles down little Fleur and the two tumble down along the gardens ending up in a tickle fight. Unfortunately, despite only a two year difference, little Hermione was still at a disadvantage as little Fleur was definitely taller, bigger, and with better control of her locomotor skills._

 _"Fleurrr!... Noooo! Hahahahaha… Noooo… Fl….stop…hahahaha!"_

 _"Pweeeeeeasee! Hahaha Fleu… hahaha…. No no no.. Hahahahahah. Pwease Fleur…hahaha!"_

 _"Do 'ou surrender, ma little Mia?"_

 _"Hahahahahaha!.. Haha…yess! *gasp* pweeaasse stoooopp! Hahahahaha!"_

 _With a final chuckle, little Fleur stopped tickling little Hermione's sides and plopped down in the grass. Meanwhile, gasping slightly for air, little Hermione decides that the grass was too hard for her head and thus plops down on top of the older girl, using her tummy as a pillow. Unperturbed, little Fleur pushes away the black and gold scarf and then idly starts braiding the other girls soft wavy ebony locks._

 _"I like 'our 'air Mia. It's zo soft and shiny and pretty," little Fleur says as she continues to play with the other girl's hair._

 _"Momma says it's as dark as hers when she was a little girl but Auntie Apolline says it's wavy like…ooof!"_

 _"Oh, je suis desole Mia," says little Fleur with a little laugh as her suddenly standing up has caused little Hermione's head to roll off her tummy and into the grass._

 _"Where you going Fleur?" little Hermione asks she looks up to little Fleur while slightly rubbing her head._

 _"I forgot that I had to give 'ou something before we eat. C'mon," little Fleur responds as she brushes off some of the dirt and grass from her clothes. Giving a hand to the other girl, she easily pulls up little Hermione and together they trudge back the cobblestoned path to the Delacour Mansion._

 _(At Fleur's room…)_

 _"'Ere 'ou go Mia. Zis is for 'ou!" says little Fleur with a large proud smile on her face as she practically shoves a small box to little Hermione. "Sorry for only giving it now Mia but maman zaid it took more time than she zhought it would to make. But 'ere it is! Belated happy 5th birthday little Mia!"_

 _"But Auntie already gave me a gift….wow!" little Hermione begins to wonder why she was being given another gift for her 5th birthday which she celebrated last week but as she opens the small box, she couldn't keep in her awe of the beautiful necklace._

 _"That was from maman, Mia! I told 'er I wanted to give 'ou something only from me since we're best friends!" Fleur replied with a laugh, brushing off the other little girl's concern, though admittedly it seemed said little girl has already forgotten her protests and was currently enthralled by the necklace._

 _"Oh it's really pwetty Fleur! I love it! Pwease put it on me now?" little Hermione happily exclaims while clapping delightedly at the necklace nestled inside the box. Carefully, little Fleur delicately lifts up the white gold necklace, places it around little Hermione's neck and makes sure to click the clasp shut._

 _"Zere 'ou go, Mia! It looks perfect on 'ou!"_

 _End of flashback._

* * *

" _Mia…_ " Fleur softly whispers to herself with a sad smile, " _How could I have forgotten you for so long?_ " Sighing softly, Fleur chooses to wrap the scarf around her neck, grabs a piece of spare parchment and a quill. She sits down heavily at her desk and begins to write.

" _19 September 1990_

 _Dear Maman,_

 _I have to keep this short since I need to get to the Food Hall before Madame Maxime comes looking for me thinking I've skipped a meal. Today I kept getting distracted and spacing out maman. Yet at the same time, I've never felt more alive. I feel as if I'm more me! I can't explain it ! Is this the start of the Awakening you and grandmere mentioned? Am I gaining a better awareness of my Veela? I hope we can speak soon maman. I do not know what to expect. Also, I have to ask you… do you remember Hermione? Our little Mia? I was just getting up when I suddenly remembered our last day together. It was so sudden, like out of nowhere I remember how she has always been a part of my life. Though in reality I suppose she actually has been, no? But I shudder to think that for more than five years I forgot my best friend. I do not know what is wrong._

 _Hope to hear from you soon,_

 _Fleur._ "

With another sigh, Fleur seals the letter and stares at the letter in her hand. After a few minutes of blankly staring at the said letter, she stands up. ' _Nothing else to do but send this to maman_ ,' she muses to herself. And with that, Fleur heads out towards the Owlery.

* * *

 **October 1990, France (Beauxbaton)**

" _So have you heard back from your mother, Fleur?_ " Adrienne carefully asks her friend. At her questioning, Felicity looks up from her Arithmancy book in interest.

" _Yes, she replied but it was very short. She just told me that we will talk during the Christmas holiday and she will explain everything to me. I do not understand why she cannot tell me what I need to know now,_ " Fleur huffs out in exasperation.

" _Don't worry, Fleur. It's just about two months left. At least she said that she will explain,_ " Adrienne replies.

" _Yes, I guess. But still, it would've been really helpful if she was not more secretive,_ " Fleur responds in defeat.

" _Stop sulking, Fleur! We have Arithmancy class next. We totally cannot be late this time,_ " Felicity pipes up. With that, the three friends stand up and packs up their things.

* * *

 **November 1990, England (Granger Residence)**

"Hermione, what're you standing and smiling around for?" Harry asks in exasperation as he barges into the room. "C'mooon! Mum says we need to go to the Ministry right now since we didn't get there in time last time. I know you got special permission through the shopkeeper to keep Crookshanks with you for now but you do want to register him as your official familiar, don't you? It's been weeks!"

"Yes, of course! And, it's not like I've been standing here for longer than a minute Harry," Hermione retorts as she starts to put back her books. She's been taking some time to read through the school books she bought in Diagon Alley last month. _Quidditch through the Ages_ proved to be quite an interesting read. And it also detailed the current mechanics of the game and explained the different positions in the team. The Seeker seemed to be a crowd favorite despite being mostly out of the way during the entire game. It seems that as the player who holds the power to end the game is enough to attract people's attention. Meanwhile, the Chasers and Beaters seemed to be in the center of all the action flying up and down the quidditch field chasing the quaffle, dodging bludgers, or in fact aiming to hit the bludgers (in the case of the Beaters).

It seemed that in a blink of an eye, the Chasers and Beaters may have to change direction completely from where they were heading before. The Keepers seemed to be the position for level-headed people as they need to watch carefully where the quaffle is and make sure to covers all hoops against the other team while at the same time, be careful of any bludgers heading their way. To a young girl like Hermione who has been going to soccer camp since she was six years old, this was a very interesting read.

"Besides, I would've thought you'd be happy that I'm reading this particular book, Harry," Hermione continues as she lifts up her copy of _Quidditch through the Ages_ as if to prove that it really was the book that she was poring over.

"Well, sure Hermione but it would still be way better if you actually take a ride with me," Harry said with a large grin plastered on his face. For the past few weeks, Harry has been exchanging owls with Hermione and has actually met up with her for a couple of times. As an only child, Harry has always longed to have a brother or sister. Unfortunately, Lily experienced a rather difficult pregnancy carrying Harry to term and James just didn't want to risk another complication. And now, even though Harry was quite close with the Weasley and Longbottom kids, he did not feel a strong enough connection with any of his childhood friends that would push their bond from friends to that of how siblings would be towards each other. It was perhaps for that reason that it was quite surprising not only to his parents but even to himself as well that he had taken quite quickly to Hermione.

Although Hermione was the first to reach out to Harry after the trip to Diagon Alley, Harry responded eagerly to each owl and was then the one to plead with his mum that he be allowed to visit Hermione. During his first visit to the Granger's home, Hermione introduced him to a Game Boy and Harry was hooked! One might think that she introduced him to the game to dissuade him from pestering her to take a ride around the field in his broom. Nonetheless, playing Tetris and Pokemon on the handheld game kept Harry occupied for hours while Hermione enjoyed poring over book after book.

"Now come on!" Harry impatiently grabs Hermione and proceeds to drag her outside the house where their mothers were both waiting for them patiently and not without looking on in slight amusement at the two's antics.

* * *

 **In the Ministry**

Upon entering the Ministry of Magic, Hermione looks around in awe and proceeds to shoot off question after question. "Wow! This place is really hidden from plain view of non-magical people? How exactly does it work? How is the space expanded to this extent? Do they find a way to conjure up extra space by distorting…"

"Relax, Hermione. You'll get all your answers later," Harry interrupts her with a grin. "Just first things first, let's go get Crookshanks registered!"

"Geez, Harry it's like you care more about Crookshanks than I do," Hermione retorts with a slight huff of irritation at being cut off. "Let's go then."

"Harry, Hermione. C'mon dears, we might have time to spare this time but let's not test what kind of bad luck you two little rascals can draw in," Lily teases them.

"Muuum! We do not draw in bad luck!" Harry whines slightly to his mother.

"Correction Lily, I do not draw in bad luck. Harry, on the other hand, well…" Hermione trails off with a smile as she decides to join in on the teasing.

"Oh Merlin, sorry about that Hermione, you are most certainly right of course!" Lily plays along.

"Mum, I am your son. Your only son. You're supposed to be on my side in these things!" Harry argues back with a slight pout.

"Of course, dear, now let's go. Helen is already inside the lift," Lily responds with a smile as she nudges Harry and Hermione to enter the lift as well.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? Hmmm," the ministry official pondered while tapping the tip of his wand to his chin. Taking another close observation of the feline dubbed Crookshanks, the official let out a small huff in surprise.

"Oh goodness! See here? It appears that Crookshanks isn't exactly a Nundu," the official exclaims. "Obviously, he has the typical look of a Nundu. He certainly looks like a leopard though he is still a cub. But see here? See this around his neck where it's supposed to look like an inflated pufferfish? Well, even as cubs, the Nundu should already be apparent that the neck is somehow inflated. But Crookshanks here doesn't have anything to indicate that he will exhibit that trait. His neck is as flat as if he was a normal leopard."

"Does that mean that Crookshanks is abnormal? Will he be okay?" Hermione asks with a frown. She walked forward to pick-up Crookshanks and began to look him over slowly before eventually giving up and decided to simply cuddle the feline.

"You've heard of Newt Scamander, I presume? He was thought to have created a new breed of Nundu," the ministry official replied with a light chuckle as he observed Crookshanks pawing lightly at the young girl's bushy hair.

"Oooh! Rumour has it that he carried around a Nundu cub inside his suitcase! It's actually true? Is that what Crookshanks is?" Harry suddenly spoke up in a giddy voice.

"Oh it was most certainly true. He registered that cub with us and provided updates every now and then. He wasn't able to update us again though once the Nundu became older as it was the time that he became involved in other matters. But given his goals with the Nundu cub.. So I'm guessing Crookshanks here is proof that he was somehow successful," the ministry official replied as he went shuffled around papers on his desk.

As the ministry official seemed to suddenly be busy with paper work, Hermione rolled her eyes in exasperation and spoke up, "What do you mean, sir? Mr Scamander wanted to do something with the Nundu cub?"

"Well, yes of course! A brilliant mind like Newt Scamander doesn't just carry around a Nundu cub for nothing, my dear! Newt was trying to breed Nundu cubs that could be domesticated. Somehow like a new line to the Nundu. And Crookshanks here is likely proof of that!" the ministry official says.

"I'd say that Crookshanks here won't be as big as a normal Nundu, perhaps only three-quarters the normal size and its breath seems to be not poisonous as of the moment. Likely, his breath will develop its poison in time, and even then, he may be able to be in more control over it versus a normal Nundu."

Hermione contemplated on this silently wondering if she can still use Crookshanks to scare any potential bullies at Hogwarts. Not to say that she was a pushover but based on her experience in muggle school, kids her age tend to be intimidated with her knowledge. Some of those kids have _tried_ to bully her but somehow any planned pranks geared towards her often failed, like _magic_.

"Hmm. Now I see here that Crookshanks is your magical familiar but we'd like to keep him with us for a month so that we can make sure he is safe to have around other people and safe to bring to Hogwarts where there will be a lot of kids. We will of course update you weekly and contact you as soon as anything of importance needs to be brought to your attention," the ministry official continues with his tirade.

"Oh alright. I suppose that shouldn't be a problem. I can still visit him though, right? He'll miss me!" Hermione asks with a small frown, as if she was afraid Crookshanks would actually be taken away from her. Harry chuckles slightly at his friend and pipes up, "Of course you'll be allowed Hermione! He's your familiar! Familiars are for life."

"Yes, yes, of course for sure, Ms Granger! It'll be no problem if you want to visit him. Just send us an owl beforehand so that we know to expect you," the ministry official replies with a warm smile towards the impressionable young girl.

"Great, now that that's settled, if you have no more questions for the gentleman, let's have a tour of the Ministry, shall we?" Lily finally asks the two youngsters.

* * *

 **December 1990, England (Potter Manor)**

"Harry, my booy!" a deep voice suddenly booms out loud.

"You mean MY boy!" a man with messy black hair declares loudly as he sidesteps the first man.

"James! Sirius! We have guests for Merlin's sake! Can you not act your age? Manners matter!" Lily exclaims while rolling her eyes fondly at the two overgrown children. "Anyway, this is Helen Granger and this here is young Hermione Granger."

"My dear Lady Granger, it is great to finally meet you! And here is the lovely young Hermione Granger, you say? The young girl my boy here swears is her sister from another mother?" James says with a mischievous smile as he greets both Grangers.

"Daaaaad! I did not say that!" cries out Harry in protest turning slightly red in embarrassment.

"Are you sure, Harry? I'm pretty sure I was there! You definitely said 'mah sistah from anothah matha' that day!" Sirius interjects and throws a wink to Helen who is silently laughing at the banter among the three males. "You stood up and swore it to be true!"

"Padfoot, you know I said she was like the sister I always wanted but I didn't say it like that!" Harry huffs out at his uncle.

"Sure, I know you didn't, Harry. Don't worry," Hermione finally speaks up with a soft chuckle. "I know I'm the best and you love me," she continues and pulls Harry into a hug. Still huffing slightly, Harry rolls his eyes at his dad and uncle and hugs Hermione back.

"Anyway, Hermione c'mon let's go up to my room I want to show you something," Harry replies as he pulls away from the hug. "It's okay we'll be up at my room for now, Mum? It's not dinner yet till a few more hours right?"

"Of course, Harry. You and Hermione go up. We'll call you when it's time to eat," Lily replies to her son. With a happy fist pump, Harry zooms up to his room yelling out to Hermione that she should follow him.

"Will you be going now, Aunt Helen?" Hermione turns to question her aunt.

"Yes, I have to pick up your cousin from school but you go right ahead dear. Lily will escort me out and I'll be by later to pick you up. Make sure to call me though if you need anything, okay? Me or your uncle," Helen replies and draws her niece into a hug.

"You or Uncle Derek. I know, Aunt Helen" Hermione replies before turning and following Harry up to his room.

Having laid quietly on the bed for roughly half an hour. Harry and Hermione continues to stare up a the ceiling in comfortable silence. Finally, after another ten minutes, Harry speaks up, "How have you been, Hermione?"

"Still the same, Harry. Crookshanks has been keeping me company," Hermione replies softly.

"Are you ever gonna tell me what's wrong?" Harry asks as he turns slightly to look at Hermione curiously.

"I told you I'm okay Harry…" Hermione says.

"It's not normal to just cry without reason, Hermione. I know we haven't been friends for long but you know it's true when I said you're like the sister I've always wanted, right?" Harry asks Hermione softly. Waiting for her to nod in affirmative, Harry continues, "I know I'm younger than you but it doesn't mean I won't be here to help and protect you from whatever it is that made you cry."

Wondering quietly at the depth of empathy being displayed by her friend, Hermione shifts in the bed so that she can lean her head on her friend's shoulder.

"I know, Harry. But I really am fine or at least I will be. There's really nothing to do at this point. One day I'll tell you when you need to know, but for now, let it go?"

Harry hums, not exactly happy with the answer from his friend-turning-sister but accepts it without further comment. Having seen her in one of his visits quietly staring off into space with tears in her cheeks as he suddenly barged into her room, he was worried that his friend was not handling the news about her magical powers well. He only hoped that he was wrong or that Hermione will open up to him.

For now, he drew his friend into a brief hug and sits up. "I have a new pair of gloves Dad got me for quidditch. Want to see?"

* * *

 **January 1991, France (Delacour Residence)**

"Fleur, can you join in me in the drawing room after you are done cleaning up?" Apolline calls out to her eldest daughter.

"Okay, Maman. I'll be there in a bit!" Fleur replies.

"My darling Fleur. I'm sorry I've been putting off this conversation. I know that you have been waiting for more than a month now," Apolline says.

Fleur remains silent as since the beginning of the winter holiday, she has been trying to speak with her mother alone only for her mother to successfully rebuff all her attempts. She had very nearly given up and it was actually a surprise that her mother called on her tonight - two nights before she has to return to Beauxbaton.

With a sigh, Apolline reaches for her daughter's hand. Using her thumb to softly run small circles around her eldest's hand, Apolline continues, "I know it has not been easy and it is all confusing. But to be honest, I only also just remembered _**my**_ best friend."

At this, Fleur scrunches up her forehead in confusion.

"You also did not remember Aunty?" Fleur questions as she looks up to her mother. "What happened, maman?"

"You were still young then, Fleur - actually you are still young now - but we could not fully explain the situation to you. Your Aunt was working undercover as a spy within the ranks of the Morsemordre for the Order. You are aware of the ongoing tensions in Britain, aren't you ma petite?" Seeing her daughter nod, she continues, "It was really becoming dangerous for her and our Mia so they had to take certain steps."

"They made us forget them, maman?" Fleur asks sullenly. Seeing her mother nod her head yes, she asks what has been bothering her most since recalling her childhood best friend, "But why maman? Didn't they trust us? Didn't they love us?"

"Oh my sweet, sweet flower. Never doubt that your Aunt and Hermione loves us truly, same with how we love them. Your Aunt and I have been through much worse and I believe you and Hermione will likewise stand the test of time. It was a necessary evil not only for their safety but ours as well. Now, do you remember when you suddenly remembered our little Mia?"

Fleur thinks for a moment before responding, "Yes, it was on September 19. I remember because I had to study for an exam the next day that was rather hard."

"Well, I don't know if you also recall, but that is Hermione's birthday. It was on the same day that I remembered as well. I think it was deliberately done by your Aunt that we have our memories returned when Hermione turns 11. You know that is when she likely received her Hogwarts letter and would definitely have to return to the magical world."

"Okay, Maman. I think I understand."

"Do you have any other questions, my sweet flower?"

"Can I write her a letter, Maman?"

* * *

 **January 1991, England (Granger Residence)**

At the same time, in her bedroom, another young girl is diligently scribbling away as she seats quietly at her desk.

" _Dear Momma,_

 _I'm sorry it's taken me a week before sending off this reply to you. I've been really caught up with a lot things and it's been very interesting. Harry and I have been writing this whole time. He's really fun to be with and though sometimes he only wants to talk about Quidditch, he still has his moments. He asked me last time we were at his house if I was okay since he saw me crying last time. I wasn't hurt or anything momma, I was just really sad because I've been missing you. So don't worry, okay?_

 _Anyway, I've been meaning to ask but I've gotten so caught up with all the books I bought and getting to know Harry better so I wasn't able to before... Do you remember Aunt Apolline and Fleur? I've been thinking about sending them a letter but I'm not sure if they would remember me? Please let me know momma. I miss them both - especially Fleur! I'd love to write them a letter._

 _Though of course there's no one I miss more than the two of you. So don't even pretend to be jealous momma! I miss you both terribly. I know this is my fourth letter and I'm not sure if this is getting through… I can only hope that you are truly getting this since I didn't get the last three letters back. I know there is a chance that these letters are getting lost in the post but a larger part of me believes that you are reading these letters and somehow, you can't reply to me just yet. I remember your reasons Momma. It's still okay. I know you'll be back. I really wish you'd see me off when I start going to Hogwarts but I know that's unlikely. It's okay though. At least I'll be going off to where you both studied. I can't wait!_

 _Until it's us three, I'll see you both in my dreams momma!_

 _Love always,_

 _Your Little Star_ "


End file.
